The softball team is swinging into a new season starting this Feb. and have high hopes this year as they train hard to prepare.
The preseason started around the second week that the girls got back from summer break. Soon after, they began their preparation; competing in preseason matches, training at practices and working on strengthening their muscles in the gym to guarantee the best results for this year.
As the regular season begins to creep closer, the team will begin having more intense weeks of training, with four to five days of practice a week.
The girls have already played a handful of friendly matches against difficult opponents (with many more to come) during the fall to get back into the swing of things. So far they have fared well during these games. In one game on Jan. 6, they played and tied with Santiago High School.
Varsity player, Eryn Lamey (11) noted, “Our communication is already getting better every single preseason game, and obviously there is still some work [to get done], but we still have another month until the actual season starts. So just practicing and working on what we need to work on [is what’s going to make us successful].”
The Pre-season will continue until Feb. 15, and just three days later, they will have their first game against Mater Dei High School.
Last year the girls had a good performance, and they even made it to Division II in the CIF Championship, ending in the second round against Valley View High School. This year, they strive to improve on that. The only difference is that a system change has been put into place causing the girls to only know their division in CIF after the regular season.
Divisions will be decided based on their performance against certain teams during the regular season and other factors like team size. This will make it more difficult to predict where they will end up later on.
Head coach of the Softball team, Coach Baldwin explains, “I think, obviously, if we work really really hard, and we take care of the things we are supposed to prepare, then I like our chances. But yeah, it’s really up in the air until we know what division we are gonna be in.”
As of now, the softball team’s biggest rivals are Mission Viejo and Tesoro High School who have both been a challenge to overcome last season and will likely be another challenging competitor this year as well.
When asked how she feels, Coach Baldwin responded, “Every game that we play in the league will be pretty challenging, but we have a really good group. We’ve got 15 players on varsity, a lot of them have been here for three years or more, so I’m excited to watch them go and see what they can do this year.”
The team shows promise this year with many talented players and leaders. Some notable leaders in this year’s team are Olivia Kuhnel (12) and Ella Haugo (12), Sloan Lorenzo (11) and Tessa Cowsill (11), and incoming players Lila An (9) and Amanda Elkins (9). All are talented leaders who have been eager to jump in and help at any turn to solve any team challenges.
Along with a talented team, the girls have wonderful chemistry as well. Good chemistry is vital to having a good team that is able to communicate effectively and work successfully together. Since they have been together since August, they have all become good friends, and many have expressed that they look forward to creating new memories with the team.
