Softball team gears up for season

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Softball team gears up for season
The softball team begins their season this weekend
Courtesy | Summer Fields

The Hillsdale College softball team will begin its fall season with its first two games next Saturday the 18th at 10am against Kent State and 12pm against Lawrence Tech. 

“It’s our first time playing outside competition with our new squad,” 5th year senior catcher Madison Stoner said. “I think it’s just basically laying a foundation for what we expect for ourselves this year. It will be good for seeing where we stand right now and then improving upon that throughout the rest of the fall and spring seasons.” 

COVID put a damper on the fall season prior, limiting full team practices until the 2021 spring season hit and allowed for more normalcy. As of right now, the team is adjusting to the loss of last year’s graduates and the addition of the newest freshmen recruits. 

“Two of our big players last year were Sam Catron and Dana Weidinger–both fifth years. Some outfielders and our first baseman graduated too, so we lost quite a few starters,” senior 3rd baseman Elaine Townley said. “You have to reshape where everyone plays. It’s just a matter of finding out the best lineup that works for this team because each year the team is really unique.”

The team lost both of their other assistant coaches this year. One being Kylie Gross, daughter of coach Kyle Gross, who served as the team’s assistant coach for two years before accepting a job offer from Kent State. From providing instruction and insight in the game of softball to speaking about leadership, Coach Kylie was an integral part of the team.  

“See, I’ve coached her since she was little, all the way up through high school, and then she joined me after college to coach with me, which was fantastic,” Kyle Gross said. “And you know, now that’s given her an opportunity to coach the Division I level. Then it just so happens that her first game coaching there is a fall game against us. So that will be a special day for that, and just our first game the fall.”

The team practices 15 hours a week with Sundays and Tuesdays off. Sometimes players will practice anywhere from three to four times a day in preparation for their games this season, with the bigger goal of doing well at GMAC’s in the spring. 

“Always go into a game with a winning mentality,” sophomore pitcher Erin Kapteyn said. “We’re going to try and win these just for national rankings and stuff, but I think spring conference is really where it matters because that puts you in the running for GMAC champions.”

The general consensus seems to be that expectations are high without the pressure of the spring season. Working on team dynamics with new additions and team reshaping in order to eliminate any problems come spring. 

“It’s not about winning, and a lot of times we don’t focus on winning, anyway. One of the things I always tell them, you know, from the very first game that I coached here is that it’s not about the team we play; it’s about what we do.” Gross said.  “So that’s kind of the goal is to see them compete against tough competition, and really it’s about seeing what they can do and then seeing if there’s any areas that we really need to focus on.”