Courtesy | Kenneth Gaudet
Softball head coach Kyle Gross said he hopes his team this season builds on a victory in last year’s Great Midwest Athletic Conference regionals but also knows that his players face a challenging schedule.
“We play against the No. 1 team in the country, the two-time defending champion, University of Texas,” Gross said. “Then, on spring break, we play the No. 2 team in the country and the team that we faced last year in the finals.”
The Chargers will play the University of Texas at Tyler, Northeastern State University, and New Mexico Highlands University in Tyler, Texas Feb. 6-8. The Chargers will also play No. 2 University of Tampa during spring break this season.
“We faced a lot of adversity this fall and encountered situations that we hadn’t really experienced before,” Gross said. “But in the season we just came together. We finished the best season we’ve ever had, making it to the finals of regionals, and the way we played at the end was most rewarding.”
Gross said his priority this season is visualizing victory correctly, focusing on individual improvement over the number of games won.
“So the challenge is, what do we feel like?” Gross said. “What is our success, even if we don’t reach that many wins? We are not letting that get us down. What matters to us is how we play at the very end in our conference season, our conference tournament, and then hopefully postseason.”
Gross, who has been the Hillsdale softball coach for seven years, will be featured in the upcoming Arete Magazine.
Senior Mackenzi Maxson said unity was the team’s greatest strength last season.
“We were good all-around offensively and defensively, and we were marching to the beat of the same drum,” Maxson said.
Maxson went on to say that senior Joni Russell ’25 won All-American honors, and senior Hannah Hoverman ’25 was awarded Great Midwest Athletic Conference MVP after she hit a walk-off against Old Dominion University that advanced the team to the finals.
Even though Russell and Hoverman graduated, Maxson said she sees their same fighting spirit in the freshmen.
“Theres a lot of potential with our freshmen because they are all very dedicated,” Maxson said. “They are the most hardworking freshman class that we’ve had. That was the personality of the girls last year.”
Maxson also said her priority is to work on perseverance with the team.
“Last season, we came out of the gate scoring many runs, but during the game, the energy began to taper down,” Maxson said. “We have to work on maintaining our energy. Nip it in the bud from the get-go. We are playing against harder opponents.”
Junior Sydney Davis said she hopes to live up to Hillsdale’s motto: strength rejoices in the challenge; and urges her teammates to show perseverance and grit.
“If I had to give advice to the softball team, I would say embrace the suck and get in it together,” Davis said. “I know your body is going to be tired, but it is for a greater purpose.”
Davis said her personal goal is to maintain her optimistic, cheerful attitude on the softball field.
“This year, I am going to work on mental gain,” Davis said. “I am going to relax and not be so hard on myself and forgive myself for the mistakes I make along the way.”
