Weather forces softball into offseason for additional week

Photo by: Henoc Kivuye

 

Due to freezing temperatures and snow, the Oklahoma Christian University softball team’s season-opener was postponed last Saturday.

The Lady Eagles started their season in Wichita Falls, Texas, against Midwestern State University yesterday.

The Lady Eagles’ first official home game will be held at Tom Heath Field at Lawson Plaza Feb. 18 against West Texas A&M University. The Lady Eagles’ stadium honors the man who has served as the only softball coach in Oklahoma Christian’s history. It was his determination that would allow for a quality softball stadium to be built. The stadium includes amenities such as locker rooms, training areas, meeting rooms, a players’ lounge, permanent restrooms, a press box, permanent seating with a cover from the weather, an indoor facility, coaches’ offices and a large parking garage.

“Our stadium is absolutely beautiful, [and] it is one of the nicest softball stadiums in the nation,” senior outfielder Sarah Endres said. “We are so blessed to have the opportunity to play on our brand-new field, and we are all so excited to show it off.”

Endres is not the only team member admittedly enthusiastic about playing in the new stadium.

“We are all very excited to play on our new field for the first time,” freshman pitcher Haley Squier said. “It is something we have been looking forward to for a while now. It has been pre-season for about five months now, and we can’t wait any longer to start the season and compete with other teams.”

Coming into the opener, the Lady Eagles proved ready to work on achieving their goals.

“Each season we have a team meeting and decide our goals for the year,” Endres said. “This year our aim is to keep a team batting average of .330, a team fielding average of .975 and to place as one of the top two teams in the Heartland Conference. We are extremely talented this year, and these are attainable goals, but it will definitely be a challenge.”

The Lady Eagles had their goals set and multiple hours of practice under their belts, allowing them to feel prepared and ready for their season to begin.

“We are all extremely anxious to get started this year; we have worked so hard in off-season and we are ready to start playing,” Endres said prior to yesterday’s game. “To make sure we’re prepared we put a ton of work in practicing and working out. For the entire fall semester and the month of January we trained at 6 a.m. three times a week. The workouts are so tough, but they really do bring us all together and they prepare our bodies for a nonstop season. Along with working out, we practiced every day for hours.”

Not only is the team working in the gym and on the field, they are also working on building tighter team chemistry.

Every year the team changes as seniors graduate and freshmen flow in, forcing the team to re-learn how best to work together each season.

“The most important thing for us right now is to work on the team chemistry on and off the field,” Endres said. “We have a great group of girls, but any time you lose upperclassmen and gain freshmen, you have to regroup as a team and work on meshing back together.”

Regrouping for the team this year may be a new challenge, as the team is the biggest it has been in Oklahoma Christian’s history.

“For the first time ever, we have 18 players,” Endres said. “It is unfortunate that only nine of us get to see the field at a time, because we are loaded with talent. We gained six freshmen who have already proven themselves at the plate and on the field; it guarantees that the Lady Eagles will be successful for many years to come.”

The Lady Eagles will have a full season, competing against many teams stacked with skilled competitors.

“The Heartland Conference is packed with talent,” Endres said. “We learned last year that there are no ‘easy’ games and we cannot let up on any team we play.“

Not only are the players excited about the new stadium, but the fans are as well.

“I’m really excited to see what the team does this season,” senior Roxie Gonzalez said. “I know the girls are more determined than ever and have been working extremely hard at practices. Now that they have a new field that fans can actually see them play at home, they are really wanting to impress everyone with a great season.”

Check The Talon online at talonatoc.com for updates on Thursday’s game.