By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Sports Editor
Sitka High softball players have returned to the field ready for a full season, after the realities of the pandemic cost the team a full year of experience.
“It’s kind of weird because the sophomores are freshmen and the seniors are juniors. The seniors are playing like a junior level – it’s put us back a year. So we’re having to work extra hard to get up to the level we were at and it’s going great so far,” Lady Wolves senior Grace Harang said after practice Tuesday. She’s a center outfielder.
Like Harang, senior Sitka shortstop Tamryn Suarez hasn’t played softball since she was a sophomore. The loss of a season, she said, has taken a toll.
“You lose a lot of motivation, even though you have a lot of drive to want to feel like you can jump right back into the season, you definitely lose a lot of that muscle memory,” Suarez said.
Harang agreed, but added that lost muscle memory is returning with practice.
“I forgot a lot of situational things and aspects, but it came back really fast,” she said.
Thinking of the underclassmen, Harang noted that from an experience perspective they are all freshmen.
“We call them all freshmen because they’re all playing at a freshman level. But it’s really cool to see how we’re all coming together and bonding even though there’s an age gap. It’s like there isn’t one in how we play together and communicate,” Harang said.
Coach Jael McCarty echoed this as well.
“We have two classes that are freshmen to softball,” McCarty said.
After a full year without softball, the coach stressed incremental improvement.
“We’re just focused on every day getting better. We actually have a huge group of that freshmen-sophomore class are girls who just love softball and have been in Little League and stuff and know the game. So our focus is how are we going to unite the team, how are we going to bridge that gap between such older girls and such younger girls?” the coach said.
Despite any difficulties, McCarty has her eyes set on the state tournament.
“It’s going to be a growing season, there’s going to be some days where it doesn’t work out for us,” she said. “But what can we learn and how can we move forward? And the goal is still to get to state and perform well there.”
Every player interviewed agreed: the state championship is a top priority for the Lady Wolves this year.
Thinking back on the success of the recent basketball season, senior pitcher Makenna Smith hoped for another season without coronavirus cases. But after playing basketball in a nearly vacant gym, she added that she’s eager for crowds to return for softball.
“(I hope) that it will go just as basketball did. There are no quarantines or missed practices because of COVID… I’m really grateful that we’ll be able to have a crowd, because basketball was depressing, to play for nobody,” Smith said.
Early on in the basketball season, when few spectators were permitted in the gym, the loudest noise of game play was often the sound of the ball bouncing on the court.
But given the distanced nature of softball, Suarez said she’s confident the team can play safely.
“I’m definitely not worried about this season in terms of COVID, because we’re not going to be playing - like certain parts - with contact. We’re able to have really separate distancing,” Suarez said. “All of us wear a mask during practice, except when you’re on the field you’re pretty much 18 feet away from everyone.”
The interview was conducted in the team dugout and everyone wore masks. Players wore masks on the field as well.
Harang regretted the fact that her squad won’t be housing with local families during travel tournaments this season.
“Something this year I’m sad about is we’re not housing, we’re staying in hotels. And I really liked housing because we bonded with the other team, just to have the inter-team connectedness across Southeast,” Harang said.
Overall, she said, she hopes her team uses this season to grow closer together.
“My biggest hope this year is that we are just close as a team with great communication. The younger people are really stepping up and it’s really cool to see that,” Harang said.
The coach added that, having lost a full season, her players’ love of softball is intensified.
“Having a season off, the girls rediscovered their love for the game. They missed it,” McCarty said. “This is a fun team. More than anything they’re all very nice to each other and they all love the game. Sometimes we lose that love with competitiveness. They’re competitive, but they enjoy the game, so there’s a lot of laughter. People are smiling through practice.”
Excited for the long-awaited return of softball, Suarez highlighted the importance of the sport for the town.
“Sitka as a whole is a very softball- and baseball-oriented town, because we have a great field, everybody has always wanted to be a part of it,” Suarez said.
