Softball hopes to be threat in conference

Beaver softball has come to a cold, white roadblock. Snow, as we all know, is blanketing the women’s field, and not allowing them to be outside to get their season underway. The team is just waiting in anticipation to get onto the field and prove themselves in the conference.

“We are really excited to be competitive in the conference this year,” said Head Coach Heather Hupke. “Last year we were a little bit of a push over for most teams. We have made huge improvements and are ready to see those improvements against other teams besides ourselves.”

The Beavers have overcome their rebuilding year, with coaching staff and program changes. They have gotten comfortable and are ready to see their progression through the season.

“We are just really looking forward to getting out and playing.We struggled last season and are looking for more improvement on the offensive side,” Hupke said.

The Lady Beavers have five returning players, with three seniors and two juniors on the squad. They look to travel for the next few games, the first being at Northwestern on Mar. 17, weather pending.

Then they will travel to a tournament in St. Louis the weekend of Mar. 20 and continue on the road to California over spring break to play in the Sunwest Tournament in Orange, California.

Playing only eight games because of the timing of the tournament and our spring break schedule, the team will come back with hopes of the fields being cleared of snow and ready for their first conference double header.

These games will be at Simpson College in Indianola. The Lady Beavers first home double header will be Saturday, Apr. 10 vs. Coe College.

“Every game is very important to us; we want to be playing in the conference tournament. Our theme this season is the ‘Climb,’ and we are looking to put the program back on the uphill. The season will be interesting overall with the weather; it’s going to come down to who can be the most consistent,” Hupke said.

Looking ahead at team standings, Coe currently sits at 8th, Central at 20th, and Luther at 21st, according the NCAA Division III Standings.

Senior Tyonia Zimmerman is really looking forward to the spring tournament.

“It is the first impression of the team and we find out what we need to work on before we start conference play,” Zimmerman said.

Zimmerman feels that the team has already improved from last year and that even though they are a young team, the steps are being made and are successful, allowing them to get better each day and to reach the competitive level they want.

“Overall we want to be amongst the top half of the teams in the conference. We want to make it to the conference tournament, want to stay competitive enough to be a threat to other teams,” Zimmerman said.