Season preview: Softball fosters positive environment, optimism

Head Coach: Mike Davey 

Last year’s record: The team finished third in its division with an overall record of 6-7.

Recap: There were few players on last year’s varsity team; as such, some players were inexperienced. 

Key Matchups: Lincoln/San Jose, Cupertino, Santa Clara, Palo Alto

Star Players: seniors captains Arya Taymuree (right field), Morgan Curtis (pitcher) and Erin Wu (centerfield), junior Lily Guzman (first base)

Key losses to graduation: Bela Chauhan (shortstop and pitcher), Shauna Zahabi (third baseman), Hannah Camp (right and second fielder), Regina Lee (left fielder)

League: SCVAL El Camino League 

Prognosis: 

After last year’s short-staffed season, the softball team has returned with a larger roster. They hope to train new players in a supportive environment and find their footing working together as a team.

According to senior captain Arya Taymuree, last year was a “strange time,” as some players were at school for hybrid learning, while others were coming to practices from home. Due to COVID protocols and the rearrangement of sports seasons, the team was undersized — many softball players chose to partake in other sports such as track, she said. As a result, there were not enough athletes to field a JV team.

This season, the softball team’s roster has expanded to 10 players on varsity and 10 players on JV compared with last year’s 13-member varsity team. Taymuree said that the team has a solid number of players, and some will be “going back and forth between JV and varsity to play with whoever really needs them that day.” Five out of the 10 players on varsity and nine out of 10 players on JV are new recruits.

“Coming back, we’ve gotten a lot of new players — half of the players on varsity and all but one on JV are new — and it’s really exciting to see what they’re going to do and watch them improve day by day,” she said. “I think everyone’s just excited to be back in the sport. It’s the first time it’s felt normal [since COVID-19 started].” 

The team is training in hopes of back-to-back making CCS. Last year, however, they opted out of the playoffs because the seniors did not want to risk contracting COVID-19.

During practices, the team splits themselves into infielders and outfielders to drill various skills such as throwing and catching, batting and fielding. COVID-19 restrictions mandate that players wear masks inside the dugout, but masks are optional out on the wider field.

“For varsity, we’re cleaning up our own skills, polishing them and getting back into our normal rhythm of playing softball,” Taymuree said. “A big thing right now is just learning how to work together as a team, because there are a couple of new faces.”

As one of four team captains, Taymuree also hopes to encourage new players, build team confidence and foster a healthy learning environment as past captains have done for her.

Sophomore outfield Ariana Tootoonchi, who is beginning her first year on the softball team, found players and coaches to be welcoming and supportive.

“We’re always cheering and hyping each other up, and whenever someone does something wrong, everyone says it’s okay and reassures them,” she said. “So everyone has each other’s back.”

The team has practiced scrimmages within themselves in order to prepare for future games, Tootoonchi said. The Falcons played their first scrimmage on Feb. 17 against Los Gatos, a team placed in a higher division, where they lost, but no score was available. However, Tootoonchi found her first scrimmage to be a nerve-wracking but fun experience. 

While the team’s first preseason game on March 3 against San Jose High was postponed due to their team not having enough players, she looks forward to future games in Santa Cruz and far distance tournaments. Their next game is scheduled for March 14 against Lincoln High School.  

Overall, the team has a positive outlook on the upcoming season.

“Each day we’ve been getting better and better,” Tootoonchi said. “So it’s really just the confidence and motivation that we need to keep up.”