Spring sports have sprung

On March 2, spring sports teams began official practices to start this year’s season. The Panther Press spoke to the teams’ head coaches about their experiences for the season.

Softball

As the spring season sets in, Head Coach Ms. Maggie Gola is preparing for her first season as head coach. As a new coach, she said she has concerns with her connection to the players and positioning. She added she believes team-bonding activities will help with those concerns.

“If you don’t have a good bonding team, you’re not going to compete well on the field,” Coach Gola said.

For those who would like to see the softball team in action, Coach Gola suggested coming out to their last game in the regular season and Senior Night, which is Tuesday, May 12.

Girls Track and Field

Last season, the Girls Track and Field team finished the season with a winning 5-1 record. Head Coach Mr. Rod Harris said he plans to repeat the winning record this season. He added that he expects the team to continue to be strong competitors in all events.

“We have a lot of quality athletes returning,” he said. With a lot of competition, some challenges also arise, he added. Coach Harris said the team needs to improve depth within jumps and to build up younger athletes. The team’s Senior Night and their only home meet is Tuesday, April 21.

Boys Track and Field

Boys Track and Field Head Coach Mr. Matt Ishman said he’s looking to assess all his athletes and help them improve this season. He added that along with improvement among players, he would also like them to perform well as a team.

Although he plans on doing well throughout the season, he said he has been struggling with a lack of boys signing up. “Sometimes … the difference between them running and not running is me just going and asking ‘why aren’t you running?’” Coach Ishman said.

Boys Tennis

With a record over .500 last season, Head Coach Mr. Nicholas Fisher said he would like to maintain that record or improve it going into the new season. To achieve this goal, Coach Fisher said he needs players to fill in vacant positions.

He added that there has been a lot of shuffling throughout the team. “Our players working together in different roles is definitely going to be something we’ll have to work through,” Coach Fisher said.

He said he recommends coming out to any of the matches this season.

Baseball

This season, Head Coach Mr. Chip Rearick said he hopes to improve last year’s record and be competitive. The team’s record last season was seven wins and 13 losses, he added. Coach Rearick said the team needs to replace players who graduated last year in order to achieve their goals. He added he is happy with the group of players he has.

“These are guys who are competitors and who play hard,” Coach Rearick said. He added that he would love to see a big crowd at any of the home games this year.