Last Saturday the Lady Bison softball team defeated Ouachita Baptist University in the Great American Conference tournament. The team won 6-5 in eight innings and 9-1 in six innings.
Harding advanced to a 30-23 record overall and is currently in sixth place in the GAC standings. They will play in the 2014 GAC Championship Tournament in Bentonville, Ark. on May 1-3.
Freshman infielder Courtney Chambers said she is very enthusiastic about the win and what it means for the team.
“Saturday was actually a really big accomplishment for our team,” Chambers said. “We got our 30th win, and for a first-year program, that’s awesome. We also secured the fourth seed for the conference tournament. We honestly just tried to relax and play the way we know how. We had to adjust the pitchers and had to come from behind two of the four games. That’s what I love most about this team: we never stop. Someone always comes in clutch to get us the win.”
Head coach Phil Berry said he is pleased with the growth this first-year team has experienced, and that it is has been “the highlight of the season.”
Berry said that the team has matured throughout the season. Since the team is brand new, the players have faced plenty of obstacles. Along with training to do its best on the field, the team has worked to foster friendships and leadership positions.
“One of the biggest challenges is just building team chemistry, developing leadership within the team, having players find their role and their spot on team,” Berry said. “When you have no returning players and no experienced leadership, you have to grow that.”
Berry said the team also has to frequently face “the reality that everything (they) do is new.”
“Every road trip, every time we go to a new place, it’s something we haven’t done before, both from a coaching staff’s perspective and a player’s perspective,” Berry said.
This means that with each new set of circumstances, the team must respond quickly to their observations and figure out which tactics to use on the field.
Freshman fielder Mackenzie Jones said the team copes with this lack of experience by “staying focused on the goals that (they) know (they) can achieve.”
“A lot of us have never played college ball before, so overcoming inexperience has been a big deal for us,” Jones said.
The players practice as a team approximately 20 hours per week and several more hours individually. Berry said the girls have learned to master time management.
“It’s a huge commitment,” Berry said. “Our players understand that, they embrace that, and they do a good job managing their time and balancing all of those responsibilities.”
Berry said that the teammates, who began the year as total strangers, have bonded over their pursuit of excellence.
“We’ve got players from all different environments and all different backgrounds, and they’ve all really come together and bound themselves to each other and supported each other,” Berry said. “I don’t think there’s any question that their ability to do that and willingness to work together as a team has been very instrumental in our success this year.”
Chambers said teammates attended a camp over the summer in order to begin forming friendships, and all of the freshmen on the team were intentionally housed in the same area to encourage team bonding. The team also has a weekly Bible study. Chambers said the team is her “second family.”
“There have definitely been times when we’ve had our disagreements, but at the end of the day, we all love each other and would do anything for one another,” Chambers said. “I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else with any other people. This team is truly blessed.”
