SPORTS

Softball ready to swing Winter conditioning prepares for season

Rebekah Shultz shultreb000@hsestudents.org

The softball team has been training since the beginning of the school year for the girls to get head start preparing for the season. Returning this season, there are three players who have been varsity for their four years, as well as two athletes who have been varsity since their sophomore year.

“We have a veteran club so I have been a little more relaxed with our upperclassmen about the things they are doing to improve,” head coach Daren James said. “We set the parameters, but they know what they need to do to get better and what works best for them. We have also added more coaches for this year so hopefully that will help as well.”

Senior Courtney James recently had the opportunity to go to Taiwan to play for the team SoftballOne after their coaches reached out to her. SoftballOne is an “instruction-based facility” according to the their website. They off er classes, as well as host their own softball team. While there, Courtney played against international teams such as China and Taiwan’s national team.

“I think I have a good advantage of seeing live pitching more often and truly understanding how quick the game has to be to be successful,” Courtney said. “It was a great experience and I loved every moment of it. I feel like a better athlete because of it.”

Winter conditioning began in December with practice twice a week. The team will continue their training to work on the fundamentals of game play before the season begins.

“We always try to play good defense and our off ense should be potent again this year,” Coach James said. “We are starting to really focus on positioning, communication and situations to be ready right out of the gate this season.”

Last year, the girls ended their season with a 9-2 loss at semi-state against CrownPointe. The Tigers fi nished 17-10 on the season.

“We are pushing ourselves a lot harder this year,” junior Hannah Mays said. “We have a really big target on our back and we want to win so we are going past our limits.”

Coach James believes that anything can happen this season, but the girls have the talent to win state this year.

“I don’t think there is anyone that will be better than us top to bottom,” Coach James said. “We will set our goals to win our fi rst conference title and to get through sectional and take it from there.”

Tryouts began on March 9, and their fi rst game will be on March 23 against Kokomo.