Softball team hopes to improve performance by focusing on fundamentals
Sophomore Amanda Mae Selly said she is already feeling the pressure of the new softball season as the team is working to correct mistakes from last year.
Selly said before the official season began, the team was trying hard to work on fine-tuning its techniques during captains’ practices. Senior captain Jenna Laidlaw said the team will carry forward by putting an emphasis on creating a strong foundation at the beginning of the season.
“It has only been the first couple days and we have so many new girls, right now we are focusing on the basics like throwing, hitting, fielding and running the bases,” she said.
According to head coach Al Wachutka, the team plans to focus on these fundamentals with the hope of building a more competitive team.
“We need to focus on beating the teams that our skill level matches with the closest like Fridley, Columbia Heights and Cooper,” he said.
Selly said she has hopes that the team can band together and work toward this goal.
“We can achieve this by giving it our all in practices,” she said. “Also, the older girls can help the new girls improve their skills and learn new ones to add to the team throughout the season.”
Laidlaw said because the competition is more evenly matched this year, the team needs to pay more attention to what they do on the field.
“In general, most of the teams we are going against are closely matched to ours,” she said. “I think the best technique for us to get wins is for us as a team to make sure we are always on our game, always hustling and making sure we are communicating with each other on the field.”
To attain this goal, Laidlaw said the team is including daily strengthening and conditioning work to help the team get into shape.
“Before every practice we do strength workouts,” she said. “They are a combination of running, lunges, cherry pickers, calf walks and high knees. We do each of these drills the length of the gym and back.”
According to the Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL) guidelines, players have until April 1 to join the team. Registration materials are available for interested students at www.gopark.org.
