A year ago, Jessi Farrer was the younger pitcher on Navarre’s softball team, playing behind and learning from the now graduated Rachel Hester.

This season, Farrer, junior, is the veteran on the staff while Kayden Riddle, a freshman, is learning the game at this level the way Farrer once learned from Hester.

Ivan Bateman remembers the tough moments all too well on the lacrosse field, the nights where the Raiders had little luck against the opposition, struggling to keep games close and hoping for better days ahead.

Both of their games during the inaugural 2020 season that was mostly wiped out by the COVID-19 pandemic were double-digit losses. It happened six more times last year, including a 16-6 loss to Escambia.

Amber Leggett warms up on the court inside the Pensacola Bay Center on a morning in early March as the Troy pep band plays.

Leggett is about to play in her Sun Belt Conference tournament game for the Trojans just an hour down the road from where she grew up in Navarre.

Renee Harris-Toliver is a year older and has more experience as she gets rolling with another year on the Navarre track team.

Nearly a month into the season, the junior standout is in a good place.