Softball team grows through adversity
by Kaity Kopeski
Editor-in-chief
Softball team huddles during a home game this past season/Triangle photo by Catherine Rogers
The Bryan College softball team just completed its first season with a 6-38 overall record and a 4-10 record in the Appalachian Athletic Conference. The team, consisting entirely of freshmen and sophomores, had a rough start losing 18 straight games. But, according to sophomore Kirstie Jennings, although the “record doesn’t show it, the team has had a lot of victories.”
“We have battled together through failure and success. We have made small steps and have won a lot of innings, maybe not games, but innings, which is an improvement from the beginning of the year,” Jennings said. “We have come together as a team and made ourselves a family. . . I do love to win, but I have realized this year that winning isn’t everything.”
Head Coach Rocky Stinson said he stacked the season to be harder at the beginning and that while the team “didn’t like losing, they liked the competition.”
Transitioning from high school to college level play was a challenge, as well as learning to balance classes and softball according to Stinson. But “going through highs and trials together” made the team’s bond stronger.
Stinson said he hopes next season the team will grow “physically, mentally and spiritually.” Stinson has 10 new players lined up for next year. When recruiting he said he looks for players with “talent for the game” who are also “upstanding” and “grounded.”
For next season Jennings said she wants “our record to flip-flop, but if that doesn’t happen then I want us to still give it all we have and never give up.”
“Wins were few and far between for us this year, and everybody lost faith in us but ourselves,” she said. “We had to pick each other up, and I believe that we learned what a ‘team’ really is.”
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