The spring sports season has proven to be a battle with Mother Nature, as there have been many rainy and cold days that have forced teams to reschedule or cancel their games. Just this week, the softball team was forced to reschedule a conference match from Wednesday to this weekend. Despite all of the last-minute changes, rescheduling the Yeowomen maintained their focus and learned to be flexible.

The Yeowomen sit 1–11 in conference and 4–26 overall. In addition to the weather, injuries have had an impact on their season, forcing the Yeowomen to get creative with their starting line up. Junior Emily King showed off her versatile talents this spring, as she spent the first half of the season pitching and the second half catching. Said King, “I think we have had a lot of injured people and people changing positions, which has definitely played a role this season. We are a very mental team, and softball is a very mental sport. When things have gone wrong, we have had a difficult time not letting it spiral out of control.”

Earlier in the month, the Yeowomen had a great win over Ohio Wesleyan University, beating them 5–1 in the first game of a doubleheader. First-year Sadie Oliver-Grey, sophomores Katie Pieplow and Jenny Goldsmith and senior Cheryl Lindsly all played a valuable role in this victory.

“This was by far the best game of the season. We just played really well and for once, everything and everyone came together. We finally realized, oh yeah, this is how we can actually play, because we are that good!” said King.

In their most recent game against Ohio Christian University, Oliver-Grey set the school record for strikeouts with 11 in the first game of the series. The Yeowomen kept the first game tight. Oliver-Grey allowed just five hits and one run, throwing 61 strikes out of 79 pitches. While the Yeowomen’s defense was impeccable, their offense was not enough to get them on the board, and the game ended in a 0–1 loss. In their second game, junior Melanie Budney managed to score on King’s single to left center, but it still was not enough. Ohio Christan was able to score on two hits and two errors, beating the Yeowomen by a score of 1–4.

“As a team, this season has been a lot of ‘We should be doing better than we are,’” commented King. “We have a lot of great players, but we just have not been able to be consistent. Sadie had a fantastic game against Ohio Christian, but we were not able to stay consistent throughout the series.”

The Yeowomen finish off conference play and their season this weekend in home double headers against Wittenberg University this Friday and The College of Wooster on Saturday. This weekend, King just wants the team to be consistent. “Consistency is all our coach has been asking from us. If we can do that, we are golden. And at this point, just have fun! I think that next year we will be more competitive. We can be a good team, and we will be!”