As the snow continues to come down in mid-February, the Oberlin College baseball and softball teams have been doing their best to prepare for their upcoming seasons. Despite the inability to practice outside, both teams have been making strides thanks to innovative ideas that range from implementing a more challenging weight-lifting regimen, to making the most of the indoor facilities, to scheduling away games in warmer climates early in the season.
Both teams are coming off of rocky seasons last year. Softball struggled throughout the year, going 6–26, while baseball went 15–24. Some bright moments for the teams included two conference wins for softball, over Kenyon College and Hiram College, and baseball’s four game win streak early in the season.
Despite the rough results last year, both teams are keeping their expectations high heading into their first games. Softball Head Coach Julie Pratt, who is entering her third year at Oberlin, emphasized her faith in her team to perform better than last season and potentially break a record more than two decades old.
“My goal has always been to beat the record that was set for most wins in the last 25 years, which would be 15,” Pratt said. “I feel like we have the opportunity now with some of our juniors who are gonna lead, and one of our seniors who has been in the system for a while. I feel like they’ll be able to lead us, and hopefully, hit that goal.”
The fourth-year that Pratt mentioned is Jess Friedman, who recently transitioned from pitching to playing outfield in a selfless effort to help her teammates. Friedman is the lone fourth-year on this year’s squad who was on the team as a first-year, a surprising result after she began her collegiate career with three teammates who were poised to graduate in 2025. Olivia Gonzalez joined the team this year as a pinch runner after being the manager the last two years.
“I was hoping to spend my senior year with the girls I came in with, but you know, for whatever reason, it didn’t end up happening, which is a shame,” Friedman said. “But I feel like I have such a great team around me that it doesn’t really matter that there aren’t other seniors because I have great friends in all of the years. Coach Pratt has put a lot of trust in me as the only senior and as the leader on the team, and that’s very rewarding.”
Key players who are leaders in their own rights are third-year outfielder Haley Carlson, third-year infielder Maya Means, and the team’s star pitcher, third-year Hailey Alspach, who Pratt is expecting to be the driving force behind the team’s pitching staff.
“Hailey has done everything,” Pratt said. “She’ll be our number one [pitcher]. She’s the one to look at and to lead us. And then the other supporters, if they can get it done, we’re gonna win a lot of ball games.”
One shared objective between baseball and softball is to book their respective spots in the end-of-season North Coast Athletic Conference tournament, which features the top four teams in the NCAC. Every player and coach mentioned the tournament as the main, collective goal for their teams.
On top of trying to win as many games as possible, Baseball Head Coach Johnathan Ray’s expectation of his players is to be the best people they can be, on the field, in the classroom, and around campus.
“As people, our goal is to be good guys on campus and that expands into every walk of life, whether it’s in the classroom, within the campus community, the cafeteria, library, and normal college functioning spaces,” Ray said. “I think our guys have really taken ownership of that. I think as a collective, our guys really embody that character standard that we have.”
Ray acknowledged that he’s proud of the effort his players put into their studies, as the team averaged a 3.55 GPA and 32 out of 35 student-athletes earned above a 3.0. Now, the team’s focus is to maintain their academic success while excelling on the field. The team’s captains — third-year Anton Shelton and fourth-years Zach Masnikoff, Zachary Ritts, and Max Wassarman — will be working together to support their teammates in many aspects of their lives.
It can be challenging for first-year players to adjust to the level and expectations of college athletics, as well as the time commitment that makes balancing athletics and academics tricky. Although being in-season can be stressful, Shelton’s message to his younger teammates who are readying themselves for their first season is to remember that playing baseball is supposed to be a good time.
Shelton said his advice is to “stay loose. You get to play baseball, not work baseball. Have some fun and enjoy yourself out there.”
Ritts said that although their team is young, the upperclassmen have full confidence in their counterparts to start the season swinging loose and to consistently improve from now until conference play begins in April. While some may think that having a young group of players can be a downside, Ritts said that the team is fully leaning into their youth and treating it as an advantage.
“I’m very excited for this year and the young group of guys we have and just excited to see how we do because no one really knows, except for a few players from last year, who we are on the field this year,” Ritts said.
Baseball kicks off their season tomorrow in Tennessee, where the team is taking on Maryville College in three games over two days. Softball’s first games are a week later, when they will host Mount Aloysius College on Mar. 1 at 12 p.m.
