MIDWAY, Ky. - Experience often proves to be the best teacher in life, and that certainly appears to be the case with second-year Midway softball coach Bailey Curry.

Curry, who was still just three years removed from the end of her playing career, spent two years as an assistant before beginning her head coaching career with the Eagles last season.

While saying she had many of the basics down, Curry admits to struggling with some of the finer details that come from being the lead voice in a program.

"I was all over the place," said Curry, whose team went 16-32 in her rookie year. "The adjustment (of jumping) from assistant coach to head coach, there's just a lot of things that you don't think about behind the scenes...that you just kind of get thrown into. And it's a huge, huge adjustment."

Heading into year two, Curry says she has multiple things in place to help things run smoother, starting with her support system.

After going through her first fall at Midway without an assistant coach, Curry now has four. Having a full season to better delegate responsibilities has allowed her to highlight her strengths, which her players say has helped everyone get on the same page with the season set to start.

"We kind of get the gist of Bailey now," said junior outfielder Autumn Wampler. "The little scrappy things that we did last year, we definitely have it under control now. We trust each other way more. That's a big thing."

Believing she's got a strong defensive core lined up this season, Curry has spent much of the offseason trying to add pop to a lineup that was sixth in runs scored (221) and seventh in batting average (.280) in the River States Conference a season ago.

She expects to lean heavily on a group of freshman and transfers, including sophomore Randi Delong, who hit .453 with 12 home runs and 59 RBIs at Walters State Community College (Tenn.) a season ago.

Delong and others will join returners such a Sierra Bittner (.308 batting average in 2025) and Payton Baum (three home runs).

In the pitching circle, Athena Grimley is the most experienced returning arm. Grimley had a 3.27 ERA and a team-best 27 strikeouts in her first season with the program.

Curry also expects to get a lot of innings out of freshman Alli Jones.

And despite losing Ryann Berger, who led the RSC with 38 stolen bases last season, the Eagles are still expected to have great speed after recording 117 steals a year ago, by far the most in the conference and 20th most in the NAIA.

 Curry hopes this group will share her displeasure with the outside perception of the 2026 Eagles, who were selected to finish eighth in a preseason poll of River States coaches.

"Not happy about that," she said. "We talked to our kids about it the other day (and told them) this should light a fire under you, give you a little bit of (a feeling) we've got something to prove.

"We had a rough year last year...but I think we're a lot more prepared this year."

Midway is set to open the 2026 season in Barbourville, Ky. against Union in a doubleheader Sunday, with game one starting at 1 p.m.