Softball Season is Here!
The PACT softball season, coached by Matt Zimmerman and assistant coach Adamson, will be starting in April. Their homes games will be right across from the school at the draw in Ramsey, Minnesota. The team has lots of high hopes for this season and have been doing a lot of conditioning and team building to get ready for the season.
This year the team captains will be Aliya Johnston, a sophomore, and Sarah Nelson, a senior. Callie Fries, another player for the team said that Annalis Parten and Aliya Johnston both were “standout” players last year. She said that Aislinn was, “an amazing catcher, good at batting and all around good player. She also said that Aliya is always really powerful and is an amazing pitcher.
Captain Johnston said that last year Annalis Parten was a “really good catcher and even if the pitchers screwed up she still did good.” Her graduation last year was a great lose for the team. Aliya also said that Callie Fries has really stood out to her because she has “improved from the beginning of last year to the beginning of this year.”
The coach said that the team has four standout players that will be returning the year:
1) Aislinn Parten-Senior (2nd base)
“Her base running skills and hitting will be important…”
2) Captain Sara Nelson-Senior (Shortstop and Catcher)
With the lose of Annelise Parten, Sara will step in as pitcher. “It’s a big role to fill but I have full confidence she
will succeed)
3) Captain Aliya Johnston-Sophomore (Infielder and Pitcher)
Solid infielder and has greatly improved on her pitching. “We look forward to seeing her on the mound more
this season.
4) Megan Ferrell- 8th grader (Center and shortstop)
“Broke into the lineup immediately” last her and gave the team a “solid utility player filling roles in both the
infield and outfield. Giving the team another hot bat at the plate.”
They have also made plans for improvement this year. Fries said that they are working on directing their hits to go where they want it to, splat bunting and regular bunting, using their hips to get power in their swing, swinging all the way through and they are working on communicating with each other better.
Slat bunting is where you take the bat, run toward the ball and hit it at the ground, regular bunting is where you hold the bat horizontal and move it up and down to tap the ball so it only lands about a foot away from the player.
Coach Zimmerman thinks that there pitching will become stronger this season with Johnston’s help. But they will need to work to improve their outfield play since they have new players. He said that this season his main focus, “will be on our hitting abilities and learning to play smart games and take advantage of our opponents mistakes.”
The season officially starts in April, with their first home game on the third of April, like the baseball team it will be an away game against Braham. “I expect it to be a good game,” Coach Zimmerman stated. Their first home games will be April 11th, 12th, and 13th against Southwest Christian, Mounds Park Academy, and Trinity. These games will all be help at their home field, across from the school at The Draw.
In preparation for this season the team has been doing a lot of conditioning and “we are relearning basic skills so we can nail them,” Aliya said. Their coach said that once they are outside they will need to get their infield players used to their new positions. Callie Fries said that she is preparing for the season by working on learning her new position at 1st base and as a team they are getting in shape and learning to work together.
The team has been getting shape by working with a workout instructor from Velocity Sports Performance. The instructor has been working with the team on things that are specific to softball. Like; bursting out of the batter’s box, staying on your toes so that you can make quick, fast movements, helping them to build strength in their legs and using their arms for momentum and also keeping their weight forward so that they can move faster.
The team is working on bursting out of the batter’s box because it helps you get to first base faster than they can throw it so that you are safe.
The team all has high hopes for this year because last season they went the farthest their team has ever gone. Their coach said that since they have the core of their team back this season “the girls are ready to play hard” and they have lots of fun “along with giving 100% effort.” Fries said that since she loves softball you wants to do really well to benefit the team as a whole.
The team has lots of hopes/goals for this season. They are all hoping that they will bond more as a team and work better together so that they can do their best and play hard. Aliya Johnston said that, “we had good players last year but we never worked well all together.” As the captain she plans to have a lot of team bonding experiences like going out to eat after games and have bonfires/sleepovers so that they can become a better team.
Their coach said that last season was a big success for their team, they won two games in section playoffs and they were just one run away from going onto the semi finals. This year even though they’ve lost Annelise Parten he still hopes the team will, “get deep into the sections playoffs.”
Overall this season Aliya said she doesn’t think they will go as far as last year with the loss of some of their key players but that they will still do really good. She also thinks “we will start off slow but as the new people adjust to their new positions and as we come together as a team we will start to win games.” Since a lot of their team is experienced and they know what to expect from the game and each other, Callie believes that they will do pretty well.
Coach Zimmerman is predicting a record around 14-12 overall this season and hopes to have a couple section game wins. He also believe with the improvements from the returning players and help from the new players that they will exceed last year’s performance.
Going to their games is a great way to get outside and cheer on your friends. Softball is a fun fast moving game to watch, the girls are always putting 100% effort into make the game interesting for you and it’s free! “And because I’m there!” Caption Aliya Johnston said jokingly.
The team hopes that this season they will bond more as a team and really come together so they can work well together at giving their fans they best game to come and watch. Let’s support them as they work hard to reach their goals and go farther than a PACT softball team has ever gone! Don’t let our girls down!