After attaining a record of 34-23 in 2019, the university softball team is seeking to mirror its achievements in the upcoming season.

With the season beginning on Feb. 7, players and coaches have noticed a surge of energy throughout the team, including head softball coach Rick Fremin.

“I think this group’s ready to go,” shared Fremin. “There’s an expectation here to put the work in prior to that game, and so, I’m not concerned from the standpoint of them not having awareness. So, there has been excitement, and there has been a sense of urgency as well.”

Pryscilla Prince, a junior outfielder, explained the technical changes and discussed the importance of stepping up to the challenge.

“We have a lot of defensive changes, so we have a lot of utility players, so we’re not really focusing on certain people playing certain positions. We have a lot of people bringing to the table utility,” explained Prince. “So, we have a lot of people playing different positions at the field in case of injury or sickness, or just stuff like that in general. So really, we just have a lot of people that are useful for the team.”

Senior utility player Ali McCoy explained how the team has made efforts to prepare for the season despite the unforeseen weather patterns.

“We’ve definitely persevered through it,” stated McCoy. “It hasn’t affected us. We’re inside, and we work just as hard inside as we do whenever we’re out here.”

As the team prepares for the new season, McCoy feels her team has no pressure.

“I think we apply pressure to other teams,” said McCoy.

Fremin noted that the seniors have stepped into leadership roles.

“I think our three seniors are our key leaders: Tanner Wright, Ali McCoy and Alley McDonald,” explained Fremin. “Those three seniors have been with us for the last four years. They understand what’s going on and what the expectation is, so they’ve done a good job running the team.”

In preparation for the upcoming season, Prince shared that the Lady Lions have been working on defense, offense, small ball and other aspects of the team.

“We’ve been doing a lot of infield work and outfield work, really focusing on the small things,” commented Prince. “We’re playing a lot of small ball too this season. We’re doing a bunt scrimmage. We are practicing not only offense reps but defensive reps, because small ball and getting our bunts down is really impactful to the game.”

The Lady Lions softball team will play their first regular-season game against the Buffalo Bulls on Feb. 7 at 4 p.m. at North Oak Park.