Softball grows through experience

Although the season has been less than stellar for the softball team, with a record of 1-14 as of late April, the real gain is the experience for the players. One example of this is junior center fielder Abigail Williams, who transferred to Saratoga during her sophomore year.

“At my old school, softball was more of a year-round sport,” Williams said. “It was more of a commitment and the sport was more serious. Where as here summer training is optional and less competitive.”

Although the sport is less serious here than at some other schools, the girls have a lot of fun together.

“I really liked joining softball as a new student because I thought it made it easier to make bonds with teammates,” Williams said. “Plus, it was nice to be needed and be part of a team. People were nice to me, but the more relaxed nature of the team took a bit longer to adjust to.”
The closeness of the team keeps their focuses in sync.

“The best thing is that we as a team are like a family,” junior outfielder Taylor Jessen said. “We really developed a bond on the field.”

However, the girls have identified the main problem: Even when the team is winning, once someone makes a mistake, players tend to give up and let the themselves be defeated, said Jessen.

“We have to work on keeping each other motivated and keeping our head in the game,” Jessen said.

Also, the loss of players from last year’s senior class led to some rearranging of the varsity team.
Williams has played third base for most of her high school career until recently she has been moved to center field.

“The skills that are needed for outfield and infield are quite different,” Williams said, “so it was a bit different to change between the two.”

The team recently suffered a string of losses. On April 8, the team fought hard but ended up losing to Lynbrook 6-5. The girls also fell to Los Gatos 10-1 on April 7 and to Monta Vista on 13-3 on April 1. On April 29, the team will play Milpitas, and their last game will be on May 6 against Gunn.

“If we worked harder and kept each other motivated throughout the whole game, we could definitely improve more during our games because we already have skill and some really strong players,” Jessen said.