Junior Reagan Brown said she regretted not trying out for a sports team for three years, but put herself all in at softball tryouts the week of Mar. 12.

“(Tryouts) made me really look forward to the season because I just really like the sport and playing with my girls,” Brown said.

Head coach Bobby Crumpton said out of the three years he’s been coaching for Park’s softball team, this year was the best because of the amount of people who tried out and the effort they put in.

“(Tryouts) went fantastic. It was the highest participation in tryouts that I’ve seen since I’ve been here, which I’m really excited about,” Crumpton said.

Freshman Faith Johnson said it was her first time trying out for high school softball and she appreciated the learning experience.

“I don’t know how many games we play in the season, but I hope to win most of them,” Johnson said. “For me personally, I hope to get better as a player.”

According to senior captain Maddie Cascio, the younger athletes were promising at tryouts.

“There’s been a lot of good seventh and eighth graders who have come in, so I think they will have a good season with their team,” Cascio said. “We’ve moved a couple girls up that are seventh and eighth graders, and they’ll do pretty well.”

Emma Kempf
According to Crumpton, the softball captains, Maddie Cascio, Sophie Olmen, Annabelle Shutte, and Meghan Perkins, helped determine the team’s mission and culture for the season.

“The captains really took us through a process that helped us find what we wanted to be as a team and figure out our goals,” Crumpton said. “Now the next step is just shaking the rust off and getting practice in to get ready for the field.”

Crumpton says he is optimistic and has high hopes for the varsity team.  

“I feel like they are one of the elite teams in the conference,” Crumpton said. “I think they have the opportunity to be at the top of the conference, and it wouldn’t surprise me if they went to state. They’re a really good group of kids.”

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