Roff — Over the past seven years, Roff’s Kathy Gregson has defied the odds by establishing one of the state’s top softball programs at a school — and in an area — where baseball had been king for as long as anybody could remember.

Gregson also appears to be able to defy the laws of nature where her team is concerned because, despite their string of successes, the Lady Tigers seem to just keep getting younger.

At a school with an enrollment that hovers around 100 students, Gregson has seen an incredible parade of talent pass through her program in her seven-plus years at Roff. Although her 2009-2010 team — which reached the Class B championship game in fast-pitch last fall and the Class 2A semifinals in slowpitch this spring — graduated three seniors, including a pair of All-State performers in outfielder Catie Tolliver and first baseman Tera Otis, Gregson welcomed back a strong nucleus this fall.

But on a team that had lost just twice — to Class 2A No. 2 Konawa last month and to upstart Stonewall Friday at the Moss Tournament — in 14 games heading into Saturday’s action, the Lady Tigers don’t have a single senior. To make their fast start even more impressive, they have only three players — junior shortstop Jordan Grinstead and sophomore batterymates Taylor Canida and Casey Kelley — starting in the same positions where they opened the 2009 fall season.  

What Gregson’s club lacks in experience, though, it makes up in talent — albeit young talent — at every position.

“I thought it would take us a little while to adjust because we had to move some positions around and we had some inexperience in some other positions, but the girls were just hungry to start the season,” Gregson said in explaining her team’s surprising sprint out of the gate.

Canida is one of the top pitchers in the state in any class, and her back-up, junior J.J. Stewart (who missed almost all of the 2009 season with a knee injury) and Grinstead have emerged as one of the state’s top double play combinations and as two of the leaders on a club that has been able to meet almost every challenge so far — save impressing the coaches who vote on the Class A rankings.

Despite their runner-up finish (the first in school history) in Class B a year ago, the Lady Tigers were no higher than No. 6 when the first Class A ratings were released two weeks ago, and despite their fast start, they moved up just one spot in the most recent rankings. Gregson said the relative indifferrence shown her team by voters so far simply comes with being the new kid on the block.

“Some of it is moving up to Class A — some of the coaches really aren’t familiar with us,” she said. “At the same time, we’ve kind of struggled getting respect in the rankings in the past. We’ve been trying to use it as a little bit of motivation — not a lot, because we’re trying to focus on trying to turn heads in October.”

The Lady Tigers should be able to turn a few heads around the state with a strong performance in their own Roff Fast-Pitch Tournament, which begins a three-run Tuesday. One of the state’s most unique events because its field includes teams from Classes B through 3A and because it runs Tuesday through Thursday instead of the more conventional Thursday-through-Saturday, the Roff tourney has drawn teams representing almost every successful program from an area that has become a softball hotbed over the past five or six years.

In addition to Roff, the field includes Tupelo (ranked No. 3 in Class B), Konawa, Latta (No. 10 in Class 2A), Tushka (No. 9 in 2A) and Coalgate from Class 3A. Gregson’s club will begin its tournament run at 2 p.m. Tuesday against the Tecumseh junior varsity, and the opening-day schedule will also feature contests between Latta and Tushka at 3:30 and Coalgate and Tupelo at 6:30 p.m.

Konawa, the tournament’s top seed, won’t be in action until 2 p.m. Wednesday, when the Lady Tigers face the Coalgate-Tupelo winner.

“I think this year’s field is as tough as ever,” Gregson said. “Konawa (the defending champion) is probably the team to beat. Latta always has a dangerous  lineup, and Tupelo and Tushka are good again. We have a lot of local powers in it, and it’s made for a lot of good competition.

“I think our success and our schedule are a tribute to our area being so strong,” she noted. “We’ve really benefitted from softball being so strong in our area. We compete against each other at this tournament and throughout the season, then in the playoffs we cheer for each other.”

With the playoffs less than a month away, Gregson said a strong showing this week is critical for her club, which will enter the tournament as the No. 2 seed.

“It’s pretty big for us,” she said. “From here on, there are no breaks. We need to get the ball rolling and keep the ball rolling, and I think our tournament is a big key for us. It will be a big key to our confidence and to what we hope to do in October.”

Two other keys for the Lady Tigers are the performance of Canida — who had a breakout freshman campaign in 2009 — and the continued development of a defense that began the season with new players at several positions.

Gregson said Canida — who finished her first varsity season with a 23-7 record and allowed just one run in 38 playoff innings before the loss to Sasakwa in the championship game — hasn’t been bothered by the rule change this season moving the pitching rubber back three feet (from 41 to 44 feet) from home plate.

“I was a little concerned about moving her back, but she’s really worked on her location and changing speeds,” Gregson said of Canida. “I think it’s made her a little more versatile. The thing about Taylor is that even when she gets into a jam she had the ability to get out of it.”

With Grinstead an emerging force defensively and at the plate, Kelley returning behind the plate and Stewart back at second base and fully recovered from her injury, the Roff defense had a chance to be solid up the middle when the season began. Gregson said the play of speedy sophomore Kelsey Anderson — Tolliver’s replacement in center field — has filled in the only unknown in that equation.

“One thing we liked about moving Kelsey to center field is that she is athletic and has speed, and she’s also vocal,” Gregson said. “She taken a leadership role out there. She’s also been hitting the ball well. Watching her progress over the summer, we knew we were going to have to find a spot for her.”

Anderson is flanked by Taylor McCoy, who is starting in right field after seeing some playing time there last fall, and by junior left fielder Monica Miller.

The corner spots in the infield are manned by junior Magan Kile, who replaces Otis at first base, and by freshman third baseman Lauren Trimmer.

“Magan is doing a great job at first base,” Gregson said. “She sees an opportunity for the team, she sees an opportunity for herself, and she starts working toward it. She knew we were going to have a need over there, and she started working on it. She’s really filled it pretty nicely.

“Lauren is just going to keep getting better and better,” she added. “She has tons of potential. I’ve been really pleased with her.”

Kile, Trimmer and Stewart also have some interesting family history where Roff athletics is concerned.

Kile’s older brother, Atlee, was the catcher of Roff’s 2006 state championship team and earned All-State honors in 2007, and Trimmer’s brother, Jason, and Stewart’s brother, C. J., were also key members of the 2005-2006 Tiger squad, with C. J. Stewart being named to the 2006 All-State squad. In addition, the oldest of the Trimmer siblings, Mitchell, was named to the All-State team in 2004 after leading Roff to the state title that spring.

While Gregson hasn’t been able to win a championship while the Roff baseball team has captured five since the spring of 2004, she said her players have the talent — and the mindset — necessary to make a run at that elusive first title this fall.

“I really don’t have to mention it very much — when the summer started, they knew what they wanted to do,” Gregson explained. “This group of girls has a big hand in why we have the expectations we have, and I believe they’re ready to take that next step.

“That’s nice,” she added. “They realize they have a target on their backs sometimes, but I think they like wearing it now. They don’t see it as pressure.”