With spring sports ramping up as the end of March approaches, teams are excited to get back on the field for a full season of practices and games. 

For junior varsity teams, many of their players have never played a full season of a spring sport. The teams are made up of mostly freshmen who are experiencing spring sports for the first time and sophomores who never got a full season last year. The JV softball team is one of these teams, with many of their players never having played softball before this year. “Softball is a sport that anyone can pick up. My freshman year was the first time I ever played softball,” junior and varsity softball player Lyndsie Lewis said.

Despite the sport being something that most people can pickup in the off season and be ready by the time the season rolls around, there were concerns of the JV team not having enough players. To get enough players, varsity and JV players both helped recruit first-time softball players. “Both the JV and varsity players who were already on the team helped find players to play for JV,” JV softball coach Lindsay Roberts said.

 Tryouts began on Mar. 1 and ended on Mar. 3, with 24 athletes trying out between both teams. Players were divided up between the JV and varsity teams. JV got 11 players, enough to field a team and play a season. 

Similarly, the JV boys’ lacrosse team also had issues and doubts about having enough players for the season and had to have players recruit. “We had to ask a lot of the football players to come play lacrosse, and many of them have really enjoyed the sport,” sophomore JV lacrosse player Michael Murphy said. 

A typical practice for the JV softball team will start with stretching and a throwing warmup, followed by hitting and fielding drills. They then move onto situational drills and end with conditioning. In addition to having practice, the team also scrimmages other teams to prepare for the regular season. Their first scrimmage was against Clarksburg, and it was a joint scrimmage with both JV and varsity teams participating. “The scrimmage was a great learning experience for the players who have never played in a game before,” Roberts said. 

Roberts said that the team has been adapting to the game well, despite most of the players never having played before. In the preseason, the team held winter workouts every Wednesday and some of the girls who had played before went to the batting cages every Sunday to get ready for the season. The goals for the season are to get the players ready for varsity by improving their skills and giving them a chance to play different positions.

The team plays their first game against Paint Branch on Mar. 22. Coach Roberts and the rest of the team are looking forward to having a great season.