The Lady Bisons softball season begins Saturday, Feb. 10, in Bentonville, Arkansas. Head coach Phil Berry said that the team will rely on its veteran leadership early on.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery season kind of stands on its own,\u201d Berry said. \u201cWe look forward to our returners building on the success that they had last year, learning from those experiences and then sharing that information with our newcomers.\u201d<\/p>\n
This is the program\u2019s fourth year at Harding. Last year, in only their third season, the team made it far into the postseason.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe outright won the regular season conference championship, the conference tournament championship and then we hosted and won a NCAA Division II regional,\u201d sophomore pitcher Amanda Berry said. \u201cThen we hosted the Super Regional, where we were beat by the team that went on to win the whole thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Last year, the semester ended and the summer began while the team was finishing their season. However, it did not stop the fans from coming out to support the team.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are just so blessed with both the student support and the community support for our softball program,\u201d Phil Berry said. \u201cAs long as the weather is nice, we know we\u2019re going to have good crowds and great support. Even when it\u2019s cold, they\u2019ll come out there and watch us play.\u201d<\/p>\n
Approximately 700 fans attended the Super Regionals sophomore catcher Katie Carney said. According to Carney, some fans were pulling over on the side of the road to watch the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like every single girl we have brought to the field is incredible on and off the field,\u201d Carney said. \u201cWe have a lot of young talent. I think it\u2019s going to be an incredible season.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Lady Bisons\u2019 roster for this spring has 16 players with nine freshmen. They are second in the preseason polls.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s always exciting, because freshmen bring new energy and new blood into the program,\u201d Phil Berry said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got a great group of nine freshmen this year and they have hit the ground running.\u201d<\/p>\n
The team gets along really well, according to freshman infielder Kayla Anderson. She said the team has great chemistry.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re very eager to learn. We look forward to seeing what they can do once we start playing in a few weeks,\u201d Phil Berry said. \u201cIt’s a very versatile roster, I\u2019ve got several players that can play multiple positions.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Lady Bisons open their season against the Missouri Western State University Griffons at noon and the Emporia State University Hornets at 2 p.m. on Feb. 10 in the Division II UAM Softball Challenge in Bentonville, Arkansas. The two-day event concludes with matchups against the Northwest Missouri Bearcats and the University of Central Missouri Mules on Feb. 11 at noon and 2 p.m.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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