According to sophomore Hannah Howell, softball Sections are double elimination so the team worked hard after their first Section loss against Bloomington Kennedy May 20.

“We had practices outside in between Section games where we got a lot of work in and thought about what we did the last game and our upcoming opponent,” Howell said.

Park’s season record is 2-16 with a 9-14 loss against Armstrong May 23 to end the season. The varsity team includes 12 players, four of which are seniors.

Coach Bobby Crumpton said the biggest take away from this year’s softball season is starting off on a bad note predicts the outcome of the game.

“What I noticed is how we start, dictates how we finish,” Crumpton said. “Something that starts going in a bad direction typically gets out of hand.”

Senior and captain Maddy Schmitz said younger players need more focus, while the older players were putting in all they had.

“A lot of the younger (players) don’t really put out a lot of effort,” Schmitz said. “All the older kids tried to come out and play their hardest game.”

Crumpton said the 9-14 loss didn’t show how the team kept fighting through adversity.

“I think we showed some perseverance. We were down 2-9 and came almost all the way back 7-9 so they didn’t give up,” Crumpton said.

Schmitz said many of the older girls had great offense against Armstrong.

“My hitting came alive, I was hitting a lot of line drives and Sophie Olmen aka ‘dinger girl’ hit a home run,” Schmitz said.

Howell said the team will have a lot to make up for next year, but with hard work they can put a good team together.

“Losing the seniors will be a blow, but I think with a young team we can work on filling in their spots and playing good defense,” Howell said.

Crumpton said next year he wants to help the younger players advance in order to improve the whole team.  

“We have a young team so I think they have to mature,” Crumpton said. “We have to find more kids that love softball, that love to play the game and then we have to mature.”