Softball club begins season

The Arkansas State Softball Club will begin their 2013 season this weekend against Crowley’s Ridge College in Paragould.

Just a year young, the team has already recruited players with experience to improve the program.

“The key to improving is to keep getting experienced players to join the outstanding players that started this thing last year,” said head coach Chris Powers.

“We’ve recruited players from a lot of other schools like SEMO, Lyon College and Arkansas Tech,” said sophomore outfielder Katelyn Brown.

Despite the lack of financial support from the university, the team says the money isn’t important.

“This is our sport and we’re all here because we love to play the game, not because it pays for our school,” Brown said. “The financial aspect would be a lot easier to handle if we were a registered sport but the game will always be the same to us.”

Although they aren’t officially a NCAA sanctioned team, the players show their dedication to the sport by working on drills, not just in practice, but also on their own time.

“The weather hasn’t been cooperating with us as far as getting a lot of outdoor practice,” Powers added. “The girls are doing a lot of extra hitting on their own around their schedules.”

Growing a program isn’t easy to do, but the team has high hopes and will power to earn respect and become a recognized sport.

“We want to make sure this gets turned into a real program, not for us, but for all the softball players around this area that are talented in this sport,” Brown said.

Making them known is not the only goal in sight. They’re main objective this season is to compete in conference and the club World Series.

“I expect to build on the success we had last fall and follow that up with a conference championship and World Series birth,” Powers said. “Good pitching and solid defense is what I think will allow us to win.”

There will be two games this Saturday starting at 4 and 5 p.m.