By JAMES BROWN
Glasgow News 1
Barren County will have new coach with a familiar face when the 2027 softball season swings into action.
Piper Lindsey will be officially announced as the new softball coach during a 3 p.m. press conference Monday, Aug. 3, at the school. She is a 2004 graduate of Barren County High School and the present girls basketball coach there.
Daryl Murphy served as the interim head coach during the 2026 season. He returned to the program after retiring from the position in 2024. Murphy was pressed into action when the previous coach resigned a few weeks before the start of the season.
Murphy said at the end of the 2026 season that the focus going forward would be to find a coach who could come in and maintain the hardworking, winning culture that he and his staff had built. That comment came a few minutes after the Trojanettes lost in the Fourth Region Tournament title game to the No. 1 team in Kentucky, South Warren, 4-0.
He said Friday that sentiment was still the main focus for finding the next coach, which was where Lindsey became a solid choice.
“I am extremely honored,” Lindsey said Friday. “I just never expected this opportunity to happen.”
She has led the Trojanettes basketball team since the 2015-16 season and they won the region in 2019. Last season the team reached the title game of the Girls Fourth Region Basketball Tournament. It was their fifth trip to the title game during Lindsey’s tenure.
“We wanted someone who takes pride in wearing the Barren County jersey and who could maintain the culture of the program,” Murphy said. He is presently interim co-athletic director along with Jerrod Browning.
As of now, Mary Schalk and Connor Rich will continue to work with the middle school program, and serve as high school assistants. Chris Smith will return as a high school assistant. Murphy said those three will be paid assistants.
“The main thing is I am going to have really good assistants, and you are only as good as your assistants,” Lindsey said. She added that she will work with the softball program during the offseason.
“Building a relationship with the girls, that’s what [coaching] is really about,” she said.
Murphy added that the assistants will work with the program throughout basketball season and a plan is in place in case the girls’ basketball team makes a deep playoff run.
Lindsey said she will carry the same dedication and work ethic into coaching softball as she has basketball.
“We’re going to be competitive, work hard and represent the Trojanettes program and compete for district and regional titles, like we should,” she added.
