After a record-breaking season last spring, the Southern Vermont Softball team is back and excited to continue where they left off. In the 2014 season, the Mountaineers made playoffs for the first time in program history and beat rival Mitchell Mariners for the first time in ten meetings. With a .435 slugging percentage in conference play, the Mountaineers ended their season with four members of the 2014 roster being named to all-New England Collegiate Conference squads.
Practices are back in full swing and are being held at six in the morning Monday through Friday. For the five returning seniors and one returning junior this is nothing new, but practicing this early in the morning is something different for newcomer Michelle Flores.
After asking Michelle how she feels about practices being so early, she said “I actually don’t mind having 6am practice because: one, it’s done first thing in the morning and leaves the rest of the day open for other things, two, the girls always find a way to make me laugh, which puts me in a good mood, and three, I’m awake for breakfast and my morning classes.”
After the Mountaineers six-week streak of early practices, there will be a spring training trip to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina where the team will compete in the Snow Bird Tournament; they will be playing eight games over a four-day span. These games will be non-conference matches against teams from all over the United States. The teams the Mountaineers will be facing are Albright College out of Reading, Pennsylvania, Arcadia University from Glenside, Pennsylvania, Rutgers University from Newark, New Jersey, Sarah Lawrence College from Yonkers, New York, and Morrisville State College out of Morrisville, New York.
Conference games for the team will start the week upon returning to the Northeast. The first rival match-up for the Mountaineers this 2015 season will be against the Hawks from Becker College on March 28th. The team’s first home opener is against Bay Path Wildcats on March 29th.
*For anyone interesting in supporting the SVC Softball team this year, home games are held at Willow Park located in Bennington, Vermont, 05201.
By Brianne Nichols & Hayley McDonald