A mixture of returning and new players is taking the field for the Cordova High School softball team.

Those Lancers are also playing under new head coach Kimberly Little, who takes over for Tracy Cole, who didn’t return after one season because of a recent promotion at his employer. Little has coached high school softball before taking the Cordova job earlier this year.

Back this year are five players, all of whom were on last year’s team that earned a Sierra Valley Conference playoff berth that produced an 11-14 overall record that included a 7-8 mark in conference play. Heading the list is centerfielder Leila Cooper, who batted .412 last spring; second baseman/shortstop Sierra Reyes and Julia Rosales, all seniors. Rosales batted .400 last spring, and Reyes .306.

Returning for Cordova is sophomore catcher Mason Pittaro, who also had one of the big bats for the Lady Lancers last spring with a .453 batting average and 23 RBIs. Pittaro also had six doubles, five triples and four home runs. Cassandra Rucker rounds out the list of returning players, now a sophomore after being moved to the varsity team as a freshman last spring. Rucker had a .269 batting average last spring.

Newcomers to this year’s squad are Lizzy Cariveau and Samantha Lee, both juniors who were on the school’s frosh-soph softball team last spring. Other players are sophomores Vivi Luque, Hunter Norton and Agnus Budge. Two freshmen move up to this year’s varsity squad is Jasmine Hull and Alexis Wygand.

“We are young, but a very talented team,” said Little of this year’s team. “We are improving each and every game. This is an amazing group of hunger, eager to compete.”

This season, Cordova is off to an 0-6 start, which includes an 0-2 mark in the SVC. But the Lady Lancers and the rest of the conference play 15 games.

As for the SVC, the teams to beat this season, Little feels Liberty Ranch, which has an 8-0-1 record, and Rosemont are those teams. Union Mine, behind University of the Pacific bound pitcher Bethany Hammer, won the SVC title last spring. The Diamondbacks, who lost to Liberty Ranch in an SVC game, 8-1, on Tuesday, are 1-1 in conference and 4-2 overall.

Yesterday, Thursday, Cordova played at Liberty Ranch. Next Monday, the Lancers play at Capital Christian in a non-league game at 5:30 p.m. Then on Tuesday, Cordova welcomes Hammer and Union Mine in an SVC game that is scheduled to start at 4 p.m.