The Keene State College Softball team is ready for the start of their season after numerous obstacles delayed their home-opener.
After a week of games in Clermont, Florida, the Owls’ softball team was set to play their first home game of the year on Friday, April 3. The game was cancelled, however, due to weather issues.
The team will instead have to wait until Thursday, April 9, to play their first home game, weather permitting.
Despite the unfortunate weather of late, the team is still optimistic about the season ahead of them.
Katie Newell is a senior outfielder for the Owls. “As always, we look to take home the LEC Championship like we did last year,” Newell said. “This year we want to come out with a better regular season record,” she said. Newell also said that one of the team’s strong points this year is their hitting, thanks to the emphasis put on the basics of hitting by Head Coach Carrah Fisk Hennessey. “Carrah really works with us on where to hit certain pitches, and just the basics of hitting that we seem to forget as we get older,” Newell said.
file photo / Brian Cantore
Fisk Hennessey is in her first year as head coach of the Owls’ softball team. After one year as the assistant coach, she was named interim head coach in August of 2014. In January of 2015, the interim label was lifted and Fisk Hennessey took the reigns as head coach of the Owls. Fisk Hennessey has the utmost confidence in this year’s team. “Overall, this is the most fundamentally-sound group of softball players Keene State has had in a very long time,” Fisk Hennessey said.
Mariah Crisp is a junior at KSC and a pitcher for the softball team. Crisp said that this year’s team is stronger than in years past.
“I think we are coming back even stronger than we were last year,” Crisp said. She continued, “We have a lot of new talented players this year who all bring a lot of diversity to the field. All our returners look stronger as well.”
Teammates agreed the team is a solid mix of newcomers and returners, but the newer players are fitting in well with the rest of the team.
When asked how the new players are adjusting to the team, Fisk Hennessey said “seamlessly.”
Crisp said that part of the reason the new players were able to adjust so smoothly was their time in Florida together.
“Florida is always the place where everyone gets to really bond and get to know each other on and off the field,” Crisp said. “It gives them the chance to see how awesome our team is and how we all are so close to each other even outside of the sport.”
Whether it’s competitiveness or pride, the players are bringing the right attitude to the field day-in and day-out. “People are working really hard,” Newell said. “We have a couple of people competing for positions, so everyone is working hard every practice.”
Fisk Hennessey said that the attitude of the players is one of the biggest strengths of the team. Fisk Hennessey described it as, “a fun-loving attitude and desire to play well in order to positively represent ourselves, our team, our families, our department and the college as a whole.”
Ed Messer can be contacted at emesser@kscequinox.com