As fall comes to a close, winter sports are beginning to hold tryouts! Among them were softball tryouts, which took place took place on Oct. 28 and Oct. 29.

During softball tryouts, the girls start by stretching and warming up to ensure no muscle strains, running a few laps around the softball field, and practicing throwing and catching. After warming up, Softball Coach Al Gills keeps the girls active by letting the girls catch and throw his bats to the designated bases. The coaches look for a variety of different characteristics in the girls. 

Coach Gills states, “As coaches, we like to see, first, that they are working hard and trying to make a good first impression. Their hard work, skill level, and confidence go a long way. We want to see how they take instruction and they are coachable.” Since our softball team has had an outstanding reputation in the past, it is no wonder that the coaches are looking for such a long list of outstanding qualities. 

According to Coach Gills, the Apaches should be expecting another incredible season. “We have a strong freshman class this year. So when combining them with our returning girls, we feel we will have a very strong team this year,” says Coach Gills.

Senior Julianni Santa Ana also expects a lot this season by saying, “Since most of us are returning girls, I think that we do have a lot of team chemistry and that we’re gonna be really good this year because we have a lot of new talent. There’s a lot of incoming freshmen who are very good and I think that we just have to compete.” With the strong freshman class as well as the equally strong returning classes, this softball season already seems to be a hit. 

Last year our softball team made it into round three of CIFs, but this year everyone hopes to make it further into CIFs. Coach Gills says that even despite only having 2 Seniors on the team this year, “we are stronger in pitching and hitting, and we feel like we can compete for the Pacific League championship as well as a deep run into CIF playoffs.”

Sophomore Jasmine Ahdoot also states, “I think this year we’re gonna have a better run than last year because we have a lot of freshmen coming in who have a lot of talent and we’re gonna make a big impact this year. And hopefully, we will beat Crescenta Valley (CV) because last year we came pretty close.”

Even though every year is a success for our softball team, this year we hope that the Apaches will be able to strike it big in CIFs. With the new potential and team dynamics, the team will definitely be able to make the Apaches proud.