With just about a month left until playoffs, the softball team is putting their all into practice and games to reach their goals.
“Our goal is to win district and to make it to state and to win state,” Coach Cathie Johnson-Landers said. “I think we’ll do better than we did last year. We went to the second round of playoffs last year and I think we can get further than that this year.”
But not everyone has their expectations as high as the coaches. Team captain junior McKenzie Cain thinks it’ll take a lot of extra effort to beat the standards they set for themselves last year.
“I don’t know if we’ll be as successful as last year, I mean I guess we could be if we try hard enough I think it just really depends on if we work as hard as we need to,” Cain said.
The team plans practices very tactfully.
“We kind of plan practice off of what we need to work on, personally need to work on as a team, and then go and put in what they’ve done against us,” Johnson-Landers said. “So we’ll like go through their lineup if we have all that.
Everyone has created their own techniques to motivate themselves and play their best at the games. While Cain likes to catch a quick nap before games, other players have some more hyper methods.
“I listen to music and sing really loud on the bus to pump myself up for games,” junior Tatiana Ochoa said.
Despite all the singing and slumber the team has lost a few games.
“When we lose I just kind of go home and sulk and just think about it all night,” Cain said.
But the coaches prefer to turn every moment, good or bad, into a learning experience for the team.
“Win or lose, after games we go over stats, how we did in the game, and we kind of talk about the positives, the negatives and we talk about what we need to do for the next game,” Johnson-Landers said.
With 15 wins and 8 losses so far, the team has experienced some really memorable games. Being the ‘upperclassmen’ of the teams, varsity girls enjoy witnessing all the ‘firsts’ the junior varsity girls have.
“My favorite moment this season was Karina’s grand slam,” Ochoa said. “Basically this girl on JV like hit a grand slam and it was her very first one so it was pretty exciting.”
With the varsity girls enjoying the progress of their junior teammates, the coaches also enjoy seeing players do well. For coach, the Lotts sisters really stand out this season.
“Amber Lotts is leading us in hitting,” Johnson-Landers said. “Defensively we’re doing pretty much the same all around. So I think our first two hitters are Ashley and Amber Lotts, batting average wise.”
Being successful comes with its challenges but the girls perform a little ritual before games to keep themselves away from bad luck.
“The biggest challenge is being mentally positive, like mentally strong,” Cain said. “So before games we like line up and we touch feet and me and Birttany Patton we hold hands and we do like a high five thing, I mean its just superstition.”
With all the superstitions and hard work, the team continues to work their way toward play offs.
“I think the season has had its ups and downs but I think its going up now and I think they’re starting to play as a team and they’re going to start reaching their full potential pretty quickly,” Johnson-Landers said.