Drake Women's Softball Players said they train both physically and mentally to prepare for their spring conference season. Photo courtesy of Ginnie Coleman.
Since spring semester started, Drake softball has been playing in a variety of invitationals to start off its season. The teams Drake softball plays in these invitationals are often outside The Missouri Valley Conference, giving Drake softball a variety of opponents in this early season.
One such team is the University of Alabama, which Drake softball faced twice in the Easton Bama Bash on Feb. 22. Despite losing both games, catcher Finley Hall said it was a great way to prepare for the upcoming conference games.
“We fangirled a bit over the Alabama team,” Hall said. “It was cool that we got to be on the same field as these people. We realized we could get to their level and built some confidence even though it wasn’t a game that went our way.”
The player’s last interventional was the Kansas City Roos Invitational on the weekend of March 7-9 before conference games begin on March 15. Their first conference game will be against Belmont University in Nashville, TN.
Senior outfielder Heidi Wheeler said the team emphasizes adaptability, practicing and watching films on all facets of the game to take on various teams. Wheeler believes that she and her teammates’ performance has been competitive and that they all keep growing every game.
“We always emphasize trusting the work we’ve put in. We also put a lot of work into our mental routines to prepare us for any situation,” Wheeler said.
The team prioritizes its culture and the mental game, Hall and Wheeler said. They emphasize being mentally tough and working together well, even being assigned someone to get to know and hang out outside of practice at least once during the week.
“I have improved as both a person and a player while being on the softball team,” Wheeler said. “The program has taught me to be selfless, determined, and open minded on and off the field.”
The team’s current pre-conference record is 5-12. Drake softball lost 3-4 games at the Doc Halverson University of Northern Iowa Dome Tournament in February, winning 4-3 against Loyola University. Then, in the Easton Bama Bash Invitational, Drake won its fifth game against Southern Utah 3-1. The team lost three games against Alabama and Virginia Tech and the team also lost its first game against Southern Utah.
Nerves marked these early invitationals and the fall season, Hall said. She and her teammates were playing games within one month of meeting each other, so they had to build up that chemistry.
The turning point for Drake Softball, Hall and Wheeler said, was the team’s series of three games against the University of Tulsa. The first game on Feb. 28 resulted in a 2-4 loss for Drake, but then on March 1, Drake beat the University of Tulsa 7-2.
“Now that we have a couple of games under our belt, we are finally getting into the groove of things and figuring out how to play as a team, how to play with confidence and enjoy what we’re doing,” Hall said.
The team is looking toward May as they prepare for the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament. Hall and Wheeler said one of the team’s goals is to finish fourth in the conference.
“This team has all the right tools to make a deep postseason run,” Wheeler said. “We just have to continue to trust ourselves, each other and our coaches while playing in the present moment. Just focus on winning one pitch at a time and we will be in the right spot.”
Drake Softball has a doubleheader against Creighton University starting at 12:30 p.m. on March 11 in Omaha, Nebraska.