Park’s girls softball team took on the Minneapolis Southwest Lakers at Aquila Park May 14. Celebrating senior night, the Orioles swept a win 17-2 in the fifth inning after holding their lead in an energetic game.
Senior Corinna Farrar-Collins said she kept a positive attitude, keeping her energy high in order to have a great senior night. She said she focused more on having fun with her team than focusing on the score of the game.
“To keep the energy up, I stayed super positive the whole game and just had fun with it,” Farrar-Collins said. “I decided to forget about scores and winning and just played with my friends. Because of that, it was a great game.”
Junior Renee Dominguez said the team worked hard to make the night special for the seniors and to secure a win for them. She said they worked hard to shake off the feelings from the hard loss from their game the day before against Chanhassen.
“The whole team wanted to get this win for our seniors. We talked a lot about flushing out the loss of the night before. Being able to come out here and run hard meant a lot to our seniors. The whole team worked hard to make it special,” Dominguez said.
According to coach Kristen Johnson, the energy on the field was high and the team supported each other to make the game more fun and special for senior night.
“When the energy is high and when they’re supporting each other, they play awesome. If they’re flat, it doesn’t go well,” Johnson said. “It felt electric today, they were having a blast on the field. It was so fun for all of us on many different levels.”
Farrar-Collins said she wants younger players on the team to remember to enjoy the game of softball and to have fun. She said her message to her team is to know that their teammates are there for them to depend on.
“My message to the younger players is to just have a lot of fun. Your teammates are always going to be there for you, you can always trust and count on them,” Farrar-Collins said. “No matter how hard you work, just have fun with it because that’s what the game is all about. If you do that, every season will be great.”
The seniors have grown, especially this year, as human beings and leaders and learned how to motivate, talk and build relationships with each other.”[/pullquote]According to Dominguez, the graduating seniors have created a lasting impact on the softball team. She said they have led the team to success this season and she appreciates all they have done for the program.
“We have seven seniors and they have such a huge impact on our team. I’m taking away from them how much they have done and how they have led our team to winning,” Dominguez said. “This is our most wins in a regular season in a long time and we appreciate (our seniors) so much.”
Johnson said she has seen this group of seniors grow as more than players on the field. She said they have grown as leaders on the team and have learned how to uplift each other.
“The seniors have grown, especially this year, as human beings and leaders and learned how to motivate, talk and build relationships with each other,” Johnson said. “Their understanding of the game and how to play as a team has grown so much over the years and they know how to work together and lift people up.”
Park’s next game is against Waconia at 6 p.m. May 16 at Aquila Park.
