Marble Falls softball adds new assistants to staff

CAPTION: Hailey Wooten (front) turns as her Lady Dawgs celebrate a playoff win during the 2023 season. Wooten will join the Marble Falls High School staff for the 2023-24 school year. Photo by Martelle Luedecke/Luedecke Photography

The Marble Falls High School softball program, under the direction of head coach Alex Lozoya, will have two new assistant coaches for the 2023-24 school year.

They are Aspen Howie, who will coach physical education and basketball at Marble Falls Middle School and softball at the high school, and Hailey Wooten, a 2013 Marble Falls High School graduate and four-year letterman for the Lady Mustangs.

Wooten, who was an all-district player throughout her years at Marble Falls, is most recently known as the head coach of the Burnet High School softball program that made history in 2023 for the most playoff victories in a season. The Lady Dawgs won the District 24-4A championship and three playoff series.

“From what I felt from the administration, they’re excited to get back a Marble Falls alum back in the program, back on campus,” Lozoya said. “They’re excited to bring her experience, her knowledge and accomplishments to this program. They’re excited that she’s coming back home.”

He visited with Wooten on campus a few weeks ago, and she saw facility changes with the main building at the high school with the cafeteria, front office and commons room, he said.

A four-year letterman at Lake Travis High, Howie was an all-state, all-district and offensive Most Valuable Player. She was a redshirt senior at the University of Houston where she was an outfielder in 2022.

Lozoya recognized Howie from her time on the club circuit where she recruited some of his players.

“She’s very passionate, very competitive,” he said. “She wants to do things better when she gets asked. When I met with her, she was gung-ho and ready to go.”

Lozoya, who completed his first season at the helm of the Lady Mustangs program in 2022-23, has two assistants whose first love is softball.

“I’m hoping I can hold them here for as long as possible, let them grow and get their feet wet,” he said. “We have three people on staff that, at any point, could be a head coach.”

The two replace Katy Cooke, a 2009 Marble Falls High School graduate who will be the varsity assistant coach at Kerrville Tivy High School, and Chris McWilliams, who moved back to west Texas for family reasons.

Lozoya said he understood why Cooke and McWilliams left.

“People are looking for better opportunities,” he said. “They’re leaving for something better.”

The pieces are falling into place for a better season in 2024 in Marble Falls. Returners include pitcher Marisol Ramos and Kylie Roberts, the team’s Most Outstanding Player. And Lozoya said several players are embracing they must play more during the summer and fall to get the results they want in the spring.

“We have to find a way to challenge for those top four spots to get in the playoffs,” he said.

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