Dillon coach Kelvin Roller will be taking over as head softball coach for the Lady Wildcats next season, replacing departing coach Shirl Carter.

Roller has been with the Wildcats for four years, serving as the offensive coordinator in football and helping the Wildcats to three straight Class 2A titles. He went 59-19 as the head softball coach for Marlboro County from 2009 to 2011 and led the Lady Bulldogs to their first state title appearance in 2011. Roller plans to continue his football coaching duties as well as his new softball duties.

Roller will have an experienced team to work with next spring, with much of the team returning, including several members of the 2014 championship team. The Lady Wildcats will only lose three seniors, and Erin Bailey, Da’Kerhia Samuel, Brittany Miller, Auh’Kieria Smiling, Johnna Rogers, Tori Grimsley, and Adoshia Graves should all return in the spring. Bailey and Rogers were both All-Region selections, and Miller and Ashley Phillips were both Honorable Mention selections.

Roller will be building a new coaching staff, though, which will include Norman Quick and Jamie Norris. He says he wants to include more nonconference action in the 2016 schedule, and expects to face tough competition from Region 8-2A, one of the top regions in the state.

Under Carter, the Lady Wildcats played in three straight lower state championship games and earned their first ever Class 2A state softball championship in 2014. This season, the Lady Wildcats finished with a 17-7 record, coming in second in Region 8-2A and claiming the District V title but falling in the first rounds of the lower state playoffs.

Carter has been coaching for 25 years and has been head coach for 12. Carter plans to continue to coach volleyball for the Lady Wildcats next fall.