Softball team begins season with renewed hope

by Tommy Verdon

Softball season here at Pittsford High School is something that many of the girls look forward to, and the season is here! The first game is April 8.
Softball coach Mr. Irelan is excited for the upcoming season. “Our pitchers will be pitching their third year. Hopefully our pitchers will be strong,” shared Mr. Irelan. But every upside has its downsides as this softball team is not yet perfect. “I think that our weaknesses will be we can’t get out on the field, and we have some positions that are open. We don’t know who will fit into those positions,” expressed Mr. Irelan. Improvements are in need. But Mr. Irelan will keep his hopes high throughout the season. “Improve in every area and win our division title,” are the goals of Mr. Irelan.

Sophomore Jade Smith, is in her second year of softball under coach, Mr. Irelan. The offensive side of the ball is what will be the strong point in her eyes. “So far I think our batting, and probably our throwing. But it’s kinda hard to tell right now,” explained Jade. Every new season means that there will be new and younger players, and that always leads to less experience. “There’s a whole bunch of freshman on the team, so we just got to get better,” shared Jade. This season is going to be long and will require a lot of hard work and determination. “We have 31 games so I hope that we do well and win a lot more games then we did last year,” said Jade.
Junior Nicole Culbert will be in her third year of pitching as a Wildcat. Like Jade, she believes that the offensive side of the ball will be the strongest. “I think that our batting has improved over last year,” claimed Nicole. Having a young team will be the hardest part about this upcoming season. “We have a really young team with all of the freshman that have to come up,” stated Nicole. Last year wasn’t a good season at all, and with all of the improvements that will be made Nicole thinks that winning is most important. “I hope that we can win some more games than we did last year,” explained Nicole.

Junior Amber Stump is very excited to see the softball field again as she and the Wildcats are in need of some more wins and the only way to do that is to show some life on defense. “I think that our throwing has improved, along with our batting,” explained Amber. The worst part is the younger players as they will need some more attention. “We have a very young team,” said Amber. As the new season starts off every team has a new record. “I think that we need to win some more games,” explained Amber.