Steven Murillo
Staff Writer
The ISU Softball team is preparing for its spring season with fall training. You could say that fall ball is in full swing.
With the disciplined tutelage of coach Julie Wright, there is no room for error.
The Bengals run drills of aptitude to determine who is worthy of each starting position.
Since their team is highly competitive, battles for roster spots must also be competitive.
Do you have what it takes? This is what each player must ask themselves day in and day out.
The standards have been raised for the ISU Softball team after winning the past two regular season conference championships.
The upcoming spring season has brought new challenges in the form of a tougher schedule.
Some of the team’s first games of the spring season will be against formidable opponent UCLA, an upper-division opponent that made a deep run in the NCAA Regional Finals last season.
The ISU program hasn’t always had the success it’s seen in recent years.
Wright recalls when she first got here, the program “was a mess.”
In her first year, things were looking up but weren’t where she would’ve liked them to be, as the team’s winning percentage was far below .500.
When she came here before signing on with ISU, she said “I just had a really great interview, not just on my part but with the athletic department and the way they treated me and what their vision was for softball here.”
This is what brought her, and she has not disappointed.
Having won the conference’s first two regular-season championships the past two years, the team has come a long way since 2011.
Wright takes a sharp approach in guiding her team.
“She pushes us to bring out our full capability,” said Sarah Hayes. “She has very high expectations that we may not even see but she sees and uses to bring us to our full potential.”
Along with its recent success, the team has been gifted with the brand new Miller Ranch Stadium.
The vivid blue and pink evening sky with passing clouds enshroud the stadium amidst the volcanic peaks of the area. The grounds have taken new meaning towards the development of young athletes.
Wright has invested and sacrificed everything including time for her players so that they can compete at the highest levels.
“She helps us a lot on individual fundamentals, to work on our different skills and weaknesses outside of practice,” said Hayes.
If one wants to do great things, then one must take on big challenges.
There is an experience Wright is looking to offer.
“What we talk about is that they graduate from here as strong confident women, if they had to do anything in the world and they had to do it themselves, they could do it” said Wright. “They can have that confidence and that inner strength after being with us.”
The players must earn a black-belt-level skill set from their coach. It isn’t given out for free.
The sting of seeing coach disappointed is a situation the players avoid.
She knows, as do the players, that their performance during games or “live at bat” situations are dependent upon their capacity to be mentally firm.
To see players like Vicky Galasso and Hailey Breakwell crushing hits shows their faith in themselves and their faith in the bat.
“Mentality is huge, it’s equal or even more so than the physical aspect,” said Hayes. “ We even talk with our sports psychologist Dr. Fitz a lot to prepare for the mental side of the game.”
The players of ISU softball have all been recruited directly to come play the game they love.
“It’s been really fun, I like to connect with other athletes at the school,” said Maddie Hickman.
