As captain and senior Maddy Schmitz improved her batting in the first weeks of the season, she said she was excited to show off her hard work.

Coach Bobby Crumpton said certain players had exceptional games despite losing 4-25 to Chaska April 24.

“I thought (captain and senior) Sophie Olmen hit two balls that would’ve cleared the fence. I think she’s one of the top hitters in the state,” Crumpton said. “(Freshman) Sophie Schmitz pitched a perfect ball. She gave up one hit in two innings.”

“This is the first game that I’ve played all year,” Schmitz said. “I couldn’t make it to the first two, so my hitting came alive, and it was better than I thought it could’ve been.”

Freshman Victoria Schmelzle said the new attitude toward the game was a point of progress from earlier in the season.

“We were motivated to do well this game. Even though we lost, we tried to keep our spirits up, which was an improvement from the other games,” Schmelzle said.  

Schmitz said the team worked hard the whole game, but could have made defensive improvements.

“The game was not as expected. Even though we fought all the way through batting wise, our defense wasn’t as strong,” Schmitz said.

Crumpton said he believes a variety of pitches and realistic outdoor practices will improve the team’s game.

“We need to mix pitches a bit more, and then our defense is inches away from getting some of these things,” Crumpton said. “I think with more practice outdoors the defense will be fine.”

Schmelzle said the team is learning from the past and is practicing to fix those weaknesses.

“I think we’ve reflected a lot on what we’ve done in our last games and how we should be fixing that. We’ve worked a lot on our hitting and a lot on our defensive plays,” Schmelze said.

Park softball will have its next game against Robbinsdale Armstrong 4:30 p.m. April 24 at Armstrong High School.