{"id":14315,"date":"2020-02-14T06:07:48","date_gmt":"2020-02-14T12:07:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/?p=14315"},"modified":"2020-03-05T14:51:48","modified_gmt":"2020-03-05T20:51:48","slug":"softball-team-looks-forward-to-2020-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/2020\/02\/14\/softball-team-looks-forward-to-2020-season\/","title":{"rendered":"Softball team looks forward to 2020 season"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Harding softball team began its 2020 season in Houston, Texas, Jan. 31. They lost their first two games against Tarleton State University and Texas A&M University-Commerce, but the team has since won 5 games. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Senior catcher and infielder Briley Feringa said she is looking forward to the 2020 season and thinks keeping the team focused on moving forward is a big part of working together. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe basically said, \u2018First games, get them out of the way,\u2019\u201d Feringa said. \u201cNow we focus on the next games.\u201d <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Feb. 1, the softball team went on to beat Texas A&M International University and Cameron University. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since 2020 is the seventh year since softball began at Harding, the team came up with the slogan \u201cHUSBteam7UP.\u201d Head Coach Phil Berry played off this slogan to create a mantra of \u201cthree ups\u201d: show up, look up, build up.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShow up\u201d means the players have to be on the field to play. \u201cLook up\u201d is representative of looking up to God in thanks. Feringa said \u201cbuild up\u201d is what they tend to focus on the most. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe took Friday and said, \u2018You know what, we\u2019re gonna build up from here; we can only go up from here,\u2019\u201d Feringa said. \u201cThen we came out Saturday and got two wins.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Junior pitcher Emma Dwyer said she is excited to play this season and has faith that the team is solid.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe had a little bit of first tournament jitters, but I think that\u2019s been worked out mostly,\u201d Dwyer said. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dwyer also said the team has a very close bond.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve built really great relationships, and being part of a team helps teach you to work with people you may not know right away,\u201d Dwyer said. \u201cYou don\u2019t get to pick your teammates, but you end up loving them anyway.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As it is Feringa\u2019s fourth and final year on the softball team, she said she is very aware of the bittersweet aspect of the season and hopes to finish strong. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI just want to end on a good note,\u201d Feringa said. \u201cI wanna go out on a high note and win.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Senior infielder and outfielder Mary Mills transferred from University of Central Arkansas to Harding her junior year to be back in her hometown of Searcy. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor me, getting to be in the Harding jersey makes me feel at home,\u201d Mills said. \u201cI was made to play with these people.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mills said she grew up playing softball.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAt 10 years old, you don\u2019t think that you\u2019re ever gonna not play,\u201d Mills said. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But now, with the end of her Harding career in sight, she said she simply wants to enjoy the time she has with her friends, her team and the sport she loves. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m so blessed to get to end my season with these girls,\u201d Mills said. <\/strong>
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Harding softball team began its 2020 season in Houston, Texas, Jan. 31. They lost their first two games against Tarleton State University and Texas A&M University-Commerce, but the team…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15176,"featured_media":14316,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14315","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14315","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14315"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14315\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14317,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14315\/revisions\/14317"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}