The Hillsdale College softball team will travel to Florida over spring break to compete in the Rebel Spring Games.
This will be the team’s first games of the season, and their first chance to be on a field. With the ice and snow this winter, the field has not been cleared for the team to practice on it.
“The weather is a total disaster,” head coach Joe Abraham said. “We will have played at least 10 games without having been outside to practice.”
He said in this tournament they will play mostly teams from the north who have had the same weather, but some have already taken a couple trips south before this tournament, which will put Hillsdale at a disadvantage.
“We could practice 24 hours a day inside, and it doesn’t equal playing games outside,” Abraham said.
Junior Jessica Day said the team is as ready as it can be under the circumstances.
“It will be rough getting on the grass the first time,” Day said, “but we are going to do very well I think.”
Abraham said the team has been working to improve defensively. The team made too many errors last season, he said, but expects to do much better this season.
The team is young this season, with only one senior, Kristi Gordon.
Gordon said they lost some good senior hitters with Taylor Schulty and Miriam McKay, but also brought in some good freshmen.
“We’ve gotten a lot closer, and that’s really going to help us on the field,” Gordon said.
Day said she has seen great improvement in junior Jenny Bals and sophomore Juila Kosco.
“Everyone wants to win,” Day said. “I always see people putting in extra work (in the gym).”
Abraham said the team’s lineup is somewhat set, but they will figure it out for sure once in Florida.
Sophomore Ainsley Ellison will return as the team’s leadoff hitter. Freshman shortstop Bekah Kastning and sophomore Sarah Grunert will be also be at the top of the lineup.
Gordon will be the team’s designated player.
Assistant coach Amber Young joined the softball program this year. Day said the addition of a pitching coach has helped the returning pitchers to gain more experience.
Young joins Abraham and assistant coach Erin Porter, who are in their third and fourth years with the team, respectively.
Day said the team is the fastest it has been as a whole, and the outfield is the fastest in the GLIAC.
“Porter and I like to be aggressive on the bases,” Abraham said. “We have added speed to the team, which we intend to use.”
