Women’s Softball Looks Ahead to Spring

By Kendal Lariviere: For The Clock

On March 9, 2015

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After falling short in Game Seven of the LEC tournament last year, the PSU Women’s Softball Team looks forward to the upcoming season with a renewed drive. Finishing with a record of 22-13 (11-3 LEC), the Panthers were seeded second in the playoff tournament last year, and are working to keep that successful pattern going through this spring.

One of the biggest challenges that the Panthers will face is the rebuilding of their team. In addition to losing five seniors, (Digman, Galvin, Mancini, Jackson, & Hebert) last year, the team also lost four other non-senior players, leaving a huge hole in their lineup. However, the team had nine freshmen and three upperclassmen join their roster this season to make up for the losses.

“The biggest different between this year's team and last year's team is definitely the age of the team,” noted senior captain Cynthia Barata, “this year our program is very young due to the fact that we have a lot more freshman and less upperclassmen. It's definitely harder to start out this season just because we have to work a lot more on team bonding and team chemistry seeing as there are so many newcomers to the program.”

Although starting with more than half a new team is never easy, the Panthers are up to the challenge. After unseating number one ranked Eastern Connecticut in the tournament last year and coming so close to a championship, Plymouth is more focused than ever, and is aware that although there is strength in having a younger team, it is not without its challenges.

In working to form a cohesive team with the new members, Barata recognizes their challenges, stating, “this year, I really think that we could improve on our confidence. Even though we have always had a strong team, we were never all extremely confident in our abilities individually, or as a whole. I think it's extremely important to stress the importance of being confident to our entire team this year and let them know that they can do it, and we as a team can do it. We know what we are capable of doing, and we've been working extremely hard so there's no reason we shouldn't be confident.”

Plymouth was going to have a chance to exercise such confidence this weekend in three games at the Virginia Wesleyan Beach Blast in Virginia Beach, VA, but the games have been cancelled due poor field conditions at Princess Anne Park. The Panthers will get another week to polish their skills before opening their season against Luther (Iowa) on March 15 as part of their spring break trip to Clermont, FL.

Senior Player Losses:

Jackie Digman (3B)

Nora Galvin (P/IB)

Taylor Mancini (UT)

Bekah Jackson (SS)

Sam Hebert (C/IB)

Other 2014 Player Losses:

Masha Lange, Fr. (UT)

Nadia Wasuta, Fr. (INF)

Shirley Butterfield, So. (OF)

Morgan Wilson, Jr. (OF)

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