Editor’s note: This is the fifth and final part of a summer series revisiting the best of “The Prep Zone” sports show at locally owned Sonic Drive-In of Gainesville, featuring interviews with area coaches and players with host Mike Ridaught from the 2024-25 seasons.

The Trenton softball team, along with first-year head coach Kevin Benson, the Bosshardt Realty Small School Girls Coach of the Year, joined Mainstreet Daily News Sports Director Mike Ridaught on his weekly high school sports show on Wednesday, May 28, 2025.

The defending champions outscored their two opponents in the new FHSAA Rural state tournament in Longwood by a combined 20-3. The Tigers (19-6) defeated Liberty County (Bristol), 9-2, in the Rural State Semifinals, followed by an 11-1 win in five innings against Northview (Bratt) in the state title game to win their second straight state title.

Below are excerpts from the May 28 interview — edited for length and clarity — of The Prep Zone’s interview. You can listen to the full conversation, which is archived online.

Q: Coach, what a run. What a ride, I’m sure, a lot of fun this year. First of all, just talk about winning the state title this season.

Coach Kevin Benson: It’s been a long season, to say the least, just navigating the new roles of being a head coach and the administrative side of things that you don’t necessarily always see, the behind the scenes stuff that goes into to being the head coach when you’re out there just working with the girls on a daily basis as an assistant coach. Coming in right on the heels of the beginning of the season as the new head coach, not a lot of time to shift gears and regroup there. But, it’s all worth it when you finish the season as a state champion and the girls on a daily basis working as hard as you can ask them to work, and putting in the time and effort, many of them putting in extra time and asking to stay late to get in extra reps, and whether it be on the field, taking fly balls, ground balls, extra reps in the cages. When you have a roster like we’ve been fortunate to have this year. Going into it, we knew we were going to have an extremely talented roster. It’s just a matter of navigating the ship and keeping the ship heading in the right direction.

Q: There’s some challenges there as a first-year head coach, but how much did it help being a part of the staff last year, and even in the past, to take over that role as head coach?

Coach Kevin Benson: It definitely helped knowing the girls, knowing the parts of the team. We had a couple of new girls on the team this year, but for the majority of the roster, you know the girls, you know their parents, you know their background. You kind of know what they can and can’t do on the field, things to work on, to help them improve their game individually…I think having those relationships definitely made things easier, because there’s a lot of trust and respect built up from those relationships through the years.

Q: Talk about your schedule overall, because I would imagine that helped prepare you for the postseason.

Coach Kevin Benson: Oh, absolutely. I was a part of the conversations with Coach Clint (Anderson) and Bryant Frye putting the schedule together for this year, and we wanted to put an emphasis on playing some high competition and preparing for postseason play. We knew with this schedule, we had the chance to look really, really good against some really good competition, or we could take some bumps and bruises, because we did lose five seniors from last year’s team.

Q: Makenna, tell me how it felt to win it all.

Makenna Young (FR): It was amazing. We won last year, and being that was my first year, that was incredible, but going back-to-back that was insane to me. And being on this team and being with these girls is amazing, and I love every single one of them to death, and it was amazing. I mean, no other feeling. It’s just amazing. If we do it again, that’s great, but I’m so glad to be a part of this team and I can’t wait for what the future holds for me and for the rest of the team. 

Q: With only four seniors, what do you think about the chance to come back and win it again?

Makenna Young (FR): I think there’s a huge possibility. Our seniors will definitely be a huge loss, but knowing us, we have the talent and the skill, and the coaching to help us do it again. Hopefully, in more years to come, and I have a lot of years to go, and our team is very talented. I think with our talent, we can do that for sure if we keep working hard and fill in those positions.

Q: Olivia, you didn’t even know at the beginning of the year if you were even going to be able to play because of your injury. Kind of take us through that and what that moment was like.

Olivia Weaver (SR): I had a stress fracture in my lower back, and initially, when I went to the doctor, he had said this generally takes about 12 weeks to heal, which would have put me out for the whole season. He was able to work with me, and I was able to come back at around six or seven weeks, so I’m very grateful that I was able to come back out here and win a state championship for my senior year.

Q: Charleigh had not hit a home run since her sophomore year, and she hit one against Northview. Talk about that moment and what it felt like to do it in a state championship game.

Charleigh Philmon (SR): So, it felt really good. I really didn’t think it was going to happen. I was just going up there trying to hit the ball, just trying to have fun, and it just happened.

Q: What does it mean to win a state championship, knowing this was your last go at it?

Payton Campbell (SR): It was really good. I mean, that was our goal at the beginning of the season. We knew that we could. We lost seniors last year, but we filled their positions, and we thought that we could do it again, and just going down there and doing it, it was just, it was just really good.

Q: Kind of sum up this season, because it’s another state championship for you. Congratulations.

Addison Allaire (SR): I’m just really proud of us. We started off a little rough, but we really came together as a team there at the end and really just learned to play for each other. We knew we wanted to win it all, and we just did it together.

Q: No walks and 12 strikeouts. Talk about your performance in the state title game.

Addison Allaire (SR): I knew they were going to be a team that swung the bat really well. I just tried to really pound the zone. Obviously, I didn’t want to walk anybody; just wanted to really go at them and make them hit it hard, and that’s what we did.