Softball swings into season

The Girls Varsity Softball team started off their season at the San Dimas Tournament on Feb. 26. The Lady Rams won the first matchup 13-0 and lost 9-0 the next day against San Dimas High School, but came back with a victory against Ontario Christian two days later by going 3-2. The Lady Rams’ most recent match was against Alhambra where they won 10-1.
“This is our first year with our new coaching staff and our main goal is to win the league and then pass the first round of CIF,” Senior Hailey Fawk said. “[Our last goal], of course, is to just have fun and enjoy our season as the first team of a new era.”
As a new addition to the softball program, Head Coach Allison Moranchel introduced new concepts by using competitive game-like situations. Starting in the fall, the Lady Rams began their training by working on the basics and then focusing on becoming tight units within each of their teams.
“We have also placed a lot of focus on teamwork this year,” Coach Moranchel said. “[We’re] trying to build a new culture around the importance of team bonding and the reliance of each other on and off the field.”
Due to the new field construction, the team did not have a set practice area and had to play all of their pre-season games away. However, just recently, Coach Moranchel was able to secure a practice area for the team at Live Oak Park through Temple City’s Department of Parks and Recreation and now the team takes the bus over to Live Oak Park for each practice.
“Now that we practice at Live Oak Park, time is limited but we are grateful that the field is almost complete and that we will probably have the best temporary field in the league to play on,” Coach Moranchel said. “All of the sacrifices will be worth it.”
Once construction began in early December, the field became unusable for the Lady Rams, and as a result, they had to take advantage of any space they could possibly find. The team ended up using the baseball field once a week as well as practicing by the track and field jumping area until Coach Moranchel managed to work out a practice schedule with Live Oak Park.
“Coach Allison Moranchel has done a fantastic job working through all these setbacks,” Athletic Director Cary Smith said. “The plan is for the field to be used for the first time on April 3rd against San Marino for the team’s first home game of the season.”