Women’s Softball Prepares For New Season

The Wilson College Softball team kicked off their spring season on Thursday, February 1, with a night practice. The team could not wait to get into the gym to start working out and practicing.

After a long-awaited winter and some time off after the fall season, the team is back in full swing, ready to show everyone what the offseason has brought them. With two more players added to the roster from the fall season, the Phoenix have even more firepower.

“We have a lot of potential and we are very team oriented with a lot of talent,” Lindsy DeBross ‘18 said. “Our team feels dedicated, and we have worked very hard to get to this point.”

One of the biggest impacts that makes this softball team so unique is how they use each other to make themselves better. The relationship between teammates not only stands out on the field, but also carries off the field.

“Being team oriented really helps us, especially during the small bus rides and off-campus practices,” Taylor Giles ’19 commented. “We also use our team clinics as a priority to be aspiring softball players.”

With the team having more players and more potential came a more strict but focused Head Coach in Brett Cline, who now enters his 18th season as the softball coach. The coaches have really cracked down on all the players, holding them to certain standards.

“We have been taking everything back to fundamentals now since we started practice,” Giles mentioned.

With five seniors and more than half of the team being underclassmen, the Phoenix want this season to be a memorable one, especially for the seniors graduating in May.

“We have been focused on putting in the work every practice and just being motived to be there,” DeBross later added.

“Our goal is to win the NEAC [North Eastern Athletic Conference] for the last time in our conference,” Daphne Buzard ‘21 said.

This season will be the last season for Wilson College sports to participate in the NEAC because of the change in conferences starting at the 2018-19 season in the fall, which will change to CSAC conference.

In the past, this team has gone through adversity and some rough times, but they have prevailed, particularly last year when they made their 9th NEAC playoff appearance. This is an aspect that the team is really looking forward to getting through to reach success.

“We have to respond to our adversity by talking it out and communicating and leaving it all on the field,” Buzard added when asked about how she will handle adversity her first year playing college softball.

The Wilson College softball team opens their season in Cary, NC on Friday, February 24. The home opener for the Phoenix is Sunday, March 25 at 1:00 p.m. in a doubleheader.

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