By Maggie Devereux
Executive Sports Editor
The girls’ softball team made plenty of changes this offseason in order to prepare for their upcoimg season. With previous freshman coach Jim Adair now the varsity coach, both him and the girls’ have high hopes for their first season together.
“I dont think other teams are really expecting us to be as good as we’re going to be,” Adair said.
During winter training, Adair developed his own “softball specific” core workout to strengthen the girls, a combination of swiss balls, medicine balls, jump ropes, and running ladders. While at first Adair saw how tough it was on the girls, he pushed them to where “they can do things now that in November they could not do.”

Senior Nikki Surico agrees that due to the amount of conditioning the girls put in during the offseason they have a strong chance at the conference title. Even though Elk Grove, who made it to the semi-finals in state last year, are in the same conference, the team has enough confidence to feel they can beat them.
“I’ve heard the girls’ say, ‘Why not us. There is no reason we can’t win,'” Adair said.
Surico feels the girls’ excitement has come from Adair’s “fresh perspective on the game.” According to Surico, his coaching philosophy has re-energized the team and has them excited for the season.
“He has a lot of confidence in us,” Surico said. ” I think that that will help our performance on the field.”
The girls will kick off their season on March 29 versus St. Viator.