Park girls’ softball battled the Chanhassen Storm April 24, and despite starting off with strong energy, the team suffered a tough loss 13-2. After a tough loss of 13-2, the team  reflected on their performance.

Varsity softball coach Chris Gabler said the team’s drive was there, but there needs to be a push in order to win.

“Our energy level was better and we gave ourselves a lot of opportunities,” Gabler said. “We just need to learn how to take advantage of them.”

Freshman Azlyn McDonnel said although the team lost the game, a majority of the plays and hits were well-done.

“We’re really proud of our plays because we had good ones, solid ones, even though it didn’t really show on the scoreboard,” McDonnel said. “Some of our hits were good. We’re just proud overall of how we’re performing even though the scoreboard doesn’t show it that much.”

Varsity captain and senior Kamryn Halley said the team still felt good overall even if the end result wasn’t ideal.

“Even though the scoreboard didn’t show as great of an outcome as some of our other games this season, I felt like our attitude was a lot better,” Halley said. “We were more motivated in warmups and throughout the game. I’m hoping that we can carry that energy through and get better outcomes in the games to come.”

McDonnel said the key to future success is hard work and determination.

“We’re just gonna have to practice hard,” McDonnel said. “We’re going to have to do a lot of talking and working on key plays and making smart plays too.”

Halley said the team still has some nerves to shake off with certain plays.

“We need to work more on our routine plays,” Halley said. “We get a little nervous when we have runners on base or when we’re losing, so as long as we can stay consistent with those, we should have better results.”

Gabler said this game will overall help the team improve this season.

“It’s all learning, it’s a process,” Gabler said. “So eventually we’ll be better because of this, but right now they have to learn how to fight through it.”

The next girls’ softball game is against Chaska at 4:30 p.m. April 28 at Chaska High School.