By Tyreice Simmons
After last year’s difficult season, The York College Softball team is ready to come back strong.
The team would end their season 3-24, as the team was still developing chemistry playing with each other. Although the season didn’t go as well as the team would hope, this off season gave team plenty to look forward to.
The breakout star for the team first baseman Nicole Ovelheira had an impressive season, breaking York College single season records in batting average(.412), RBI’s(22), on base percentage(.484) and slugging percentage(.712).
Ovelheira was also awarded CUNYAC Rookie of the Week twice and didn’t strike out the entire season. Members of the team say they are hungry for competition, and want to start the season strong, despite facing a rocky start.
The recent unpredictable weather has disrupted the season, with the team having to postpone the first 10 games of the season.
“It’s always frustrating when this happens, we hope to try to get into the NCAA Softball tournament,” said Head Coach Patrick Malia. “We’ve been practicing in the basketball gym preparing for the season, even with the weather problems”
The games have been rescheduled for a later date. Although they have not been able to get on the field due to the weather, still stayed dedicated to getting ready for the season.
Assistant Coach Kevin Shannon also said many team members are scared to play on the field because of its unruly condition.
With their rising star first baseman, the team has six promising prospects recruited in the off season that both Head Coach Malia and Assistant Coach Shannon are excited about.
“Last season we were still finding and developing our talent, this season we are a lot better,” said Shannon. “Based on what I see from these girls, we will definitely win more games this season”.
The team will also have shortstop Tyler Smith returning for the new season, which both Shannon and Malia elated about. “We are very excited to have Smith, she is so hungry this season,” said Shannon.
With a fairly new and impressive roster, Malia is still looking at the bigger picture.
“We are still focused on building a team and looking to improve from last season,” said Malia. “We are in a developmental stage and our goal this year is to compete for the NCAA.”
This year, the team consists of 5 freshmen, 4 sophomores, 3 juniors and only 2 seniors, which shows this team still has room to grow and develop.