By Araceli Galarza Posted March 20, 2020
Lowry’s softball season is at full speed; the girls have only recently started playing, but started off with a great scrimmage in Sacramento. Varsity captains this year, Kelcey Cooper and Sierra Maestrejuan, are hoping for the best season since this will sadly be both of their last years playing.
“I am very excited to just play my last season with my teammates,” said Maestrejuan. “We have so much fun together on the field.”
“I’m super excited to just play with all my friends for my last season. We have a great defense; we need a little work on our offense, but when we get that figured out, we can definitely bring home a state championship,” said Cooper.
In the first weekend of league play, the girls brought home two wins. They beat Spring Creek 9-6 and won 12-2 the second time around.
Head coach Austin Mayo is also excited for the season to begin and to see the girls’ progress in their playing skills.
“I am excited to see how some of our older girls step up and how some of our younger girls perform,” said Mayo. “We have quite a few young girls, and I just want to see how they react and perform at the varsity level softball. Our older girls are also in a good position to step up as leaders. I know they can perform, but I am excited to see them help the younger girls get to the level they need to be at.”
With the new year comes new coaching techniques. Mayo, however, doesn’t feel the need to mess with what works, but hopes to implement some more conditioning.
“Last year we finished one run away from making the state championship, so I think we are going to be keeping things pretty much the same,” said Mayo. “Just try to increase our mental toughness and our conditioning a little bit. We can mix up the conditioning and, as coaches, talk about different mental situations that you need to be on, by doing different drills where these situations would present themselves.”
Kelcey appreciates the new coaching techniques and feels that the team will benefit as a whole and show the potential of the team.
“They have switched our positions, which I think is going to work out great,” said Cooper. “Also, they have been really tough and hard on us a little more this year because they know we have great potential
The team is made up of Ava Zebroski, Shelbie Hoyt, Bailey Hayes, Kenzi Dowd-Smith, Kelcey Cooper, Alexus Gomez, Destiny Starkey, Sierra Maestrejuan, Hannah Toth, Mackenzie Salas-Begay, and Bree Dunckhorst.
NOTE: This article was written prior to the announcement of the suspension of spring sports.
