Girls’ Softball Ready to Roll
After softball’s strong showing at the Big East tournament in the 2015 season, where they took home second place among eight teams, Big Red’s varsity softball has some high expectations for this upcoming season.
Senior Sequioa Johnson said, “We only lost two seniors last year, so the core of our team has returned stronger than the previous season. We should be just as successful as we were last year.”
Lower Menat Bahnasy added, “We are facing some tough teams this season, but we are preparing early to make sure we can put our best feet, or bats for that matter, forth!”
To say the squad looks promising couldn’t do the players justice. Lower Ella Johnson, noted, “We have some rocket hitters this year and a starting field that’s hungry for some plays.”
Lower Kaleigh Conte also believes that limiting mental mistakes and “doing everything we can to control what we can control” will be a fundamental aspect to the team’s success. She added, “We are especially working on communication and being ready every play.”
Looking to the future, senior Courtney Gibeley said, “I think a goal for this season would be to start off every game strongly. Sometimes it takes a while for us to get in the groove of the game, but if we go right out ready to play, I think we could see a few more wins coming our way.”
“Practice makes habit, so we try our hardest to play as we would in a game—it only makes us better!”
The team’s work ethic will play an important role in the upcoming season as players come to practice each day with the expectation to be sharp and always on time. “Practice makes habit, so we try our hardest to play as we would in a game—it only makes us better!” Johnson ’16 couldn’t agree more, stating, “We are focused in practice and that dedication will give us a leg up against other teams,” Bahnasy said.
This past spring break, the team traveled to Florida, where they trained hard in the morning while bonding as a team at night, an important component to any successful team. “I had a lot of fun, and it is kind of sad to me thinking that this is my last season playing at Exeter. We worked with an amazing coach —Coach Cindy—over break again this year, and I always find her extremely inspirational,” Gibeley said.
The trip was a great opportunity to see the strong points in the team and also where the skill set had to be adjusted. Sequoia said, We played four scrimmages in Florida and had two clinics. The time outside was really good to work out the preseason jitters, so we really hit the ground running when we came back to the North.”
Conte thought the heat in itself was a challenge when being expected to constantly perform at their best. Ella agreed, also added that “after the hard work we headed back to the hotel, cleaned up a bit, ate a bit and then headed to the parks to hit up some coasters.”
With great coaching, a persevering work ethic and valuable team chemistry among the players, girls’ varsity softball looks like they’re bound to do great things this upcoming season.