With the overwhelming aroma of freshly cut grass, the echoing “dings” of the ball hitting the bat, the newly laid chalk on the dirt field and the dryness of the mouth due to the abundance of sunflower seeds, one of America’s favorite pastimes has finally come back in season.

After an exciting finish of making it past regionals in the postseason, the softball team is seeking to repeat their successful record. Only losing one senior, Chelsey Henry, the team will not be forced to make many adjustments. As one of their top pitchers, another pitcher that will be filling her spot is senior Anna Batt.

“I think it should be easy for us to make adjustments,” Batt said. “We have basically the same team as last year. I think it should be pretty easy to get the team started.”

Unlike last year, there are multiple seniors on the team. Due to the many seniors, most of the girls have been playing together for a longer time. With a strong sense of unity, the girls expect repeated success.

“I think it will be possible for us to get back [to regionals] this year just because we’ve been working together as a team for about four years now and it’s the same people,” said Batt.

While the players have been consistent, the coaching staff has gone through a few changes.

Having some coaches move up in positions, there have also been new additions. Contrasting years past, the coaching staff is constructed of all women.

“We have some new coaching, which is going to be really exciting cause I mean we’ve had these coaches, but they’ve just kind of moved up,” Batt said. “We also have some new coaches that are younger and they’re all girls which should be really cool.”

The younger coaches bring new information to the table, in addition to the other coaches.

“We have some girls that have played in college already so they have a lot of good insight about new things to learn from them,” Batt said.

While the team is hoping to build off of their previous success, they are also seeking to enjoy their time on the field.

“I just want to have fun,” Batt said. “It’s our senior year and just I guess make some more memories, maybe make it past regionals again, that was fun last year.”