Kyra Ledbetter
Staff writer
At this time last year, the Racers were 2-8, a record that would be the beginnings of what was ultimately a losing season. Currently 4-2, the Racers are far from content with their improvement.
Last weekend the Racers came away from the Hilltopper Spring Classic even, however the wins did little to lessen the blow of not playing up to the team’s own high standards.
“Even the wins we had this weekend weren’t pretty,” Megan Glosser, senior utility player, said. “A win’s a win, but at the same time we need to really get in to practice this week because we can’t go to Tennessee playing like that. The first weekend we played everyone seemed to know their role and play really well and that just fell apart this weekend. I think this week in practice we just need to work on everyone coming together as a whole and realizing we’re all in it together.”
Glosser went on to say that despite the losses, the team’s potential is more than enough to be optimistic about.
“Coming out of these past two weekends we’ve seen a lot of good things and we’ve seen a lot of things that we need to work on,” Glosser said. “I think for the team, even though we’ve had a couple of bad games, we see what we can do as players and what our teammates can do as players and it’s really encouraging for us. There’s a lot we can take away from that. I think we’ll be better for it in the end.”
Regardless of how the team felt about their play last weekend, Head Coach Jay Pyron was quick to point out that though not what it could be, the team is still playing better than ever before.
“I think that happens early season,” Pyron said. “I think everyone goes through kinks and struggles and growing pains. It’s just about finding the lineup that goes together and figuring out who needs to play where out on the field. It hasn’t been a bad start. I feel like we’ve come away with a 4-2 record, which we feel like could be better, but it’s also the best it’s ever been. We’re off to a good start. Everybody knows, though, that we’re capable of more. 4-2 is not what we’re going to be satisfied this year. We need to demand a higher level of play.”
This weekend the Racers are headed to Tennessee for the Tenn. Classic and are looking forward to taking on some of the best teams in the nation before starting their conference season next week.
“Tennessee is obviously one of the top teams in the country,” Pyron said. “They have a lot of speed and great pitching. It’ll be a good test for us going into conference play just to see where we are against a team of that caliber. We’ve played good teams in the fall and the spring, but to get a team like Tennessee on their home field is going to be a good thrill for us. That’ll really help us to set the tone getting into conference play, but we’re pretty comfortable that if we go out there and play the way we’re capable of playing it doesn’t matter who’s in the other dugout.”
More than seeing the best, Glosser said she’d like to see her team playing like themselves again.
“I’d like to see everyone go out there and have fun and play confident,” Glosser said. “This weekend we played scared, like we were afraid to mess up and that just leads to more messing up. I think to end this round of play will be good for us. We’ll see high levels of play and we’re not going in just to compete. We’re going in for wins.”
The Racers won’t play their first home game until April 17 against Jacksonville State, however next weekend they’ll begin conference play, taking on Tennessee State.