Softball makes room for improvement

Coming off a losing season, junior pitcher Megan Brading knows the softball team will have an uphill climb as they head into the new season. As a result, improvement is the main goal for the team this year.

“Our goal is to work together because we have a lot of new people moving up to varsity,” said senior third baseman/outfielder Stephanie Borsum. “For now, we’re trying to learn where we are and improve from there.”

The team hopes winning the first pre-season game against Prospect on Feb. 25 marked a positive sign. The team, coached by Ray Sisco for a second year, is currently in the El Camino League. Key players include Brading and seniors leftfielder/second baseman Emily Baba, catcher Cathyrn Paolini, third baseman Nicole Gragnola and pitcher /second baseman Krittika Patil.

“We all contribute to the team a ton and since [a lot of us] are coming back from being on varsity this year, everyone is important to the team,” said Paolini.

With five players lost from last year, the girls hope the bond between the rest of the team will remain strong and aid them during the games.

“This year, the team is mostly juniors and seniors, so [the team] is still pretty close,” said Paolini. “We’re probably going to do a lot more bonding this year, which is going to help us do a lot better.”

Despite the team’s optimism, reaching CCS still seems like an impossible goal for many of the girls.

“It would be amazing if we make it to CCS, but I don’t think CCS is really a goal for us at this point. We didn’t really do that well last year, so this year, we aren’t expecting to get that far either,” said Brading. “We just want to see how many games we can win this season.”

Tough opponents include Los Gatos, Lynbrook and Gunn.

“The games are usually really close,” said Borsum. “We don’t really have any big rivals except maybe Los Gatos, but Los Gatos is a rival for everyone [at Saratoga].”

Although hopes of winning more games this year than last are high, Borsum said the team is just going to try their best and enjoy the season as much as they can.

“I’m really looking forward to this season because it’s my last year,” said Borsum. “No matter what, it’ll still be fun. We’ll see what happens.”