It's time for Emory & Henry softball players to bring their "A game" to the diamond, according to their coach.
When they do, as they showed during spring break competition in Virginia Beach this past week, they have a much better chance of defeating the tough teams.
"We play teams that rarely make an error, so we have to bring our A game to the field every day," said coach Kristen Diamond.
During spring break, the Emory & Henry team won three of its six games, including a 7-5 win over Franklin & Marshall, a 5-1 win over Albright and a 6-5 win over Cabrini. The team’s losses came were at the hands of Arcadia College (0-3) and a double header loss to a tough ODAC foe, Virginia Wesleyan (1-5, 2-7)
"Over spring break we worked on limit our mental errors, and before spring break we had some pretty tough practices," Diamond said. "We worked a lot on mental toughness along with confidence."
The Wasps went into their spring break competition winless. But their coach hopes they have come away from their week in Virginia Beach with more confidence. "I think it has just taken a while for the team to gel as a whole."
The confidence will be crucial as the team dives into the thick of its ODAC competition, which provides some of the toughest softball challenges of any Division III conference in the country. To keep up with the ODAC challengers, the team will to "limit our mistakes, be competitive at the plate, and our pitchers have to continue to give us ground balls," Diamond said.
The coach hopes the team can place among the top five in the conference this season with a winning record. It may seem like a tall order for a team that has gotten off to a slow start, but "all it will take is for the team to keep playing like they did over spring break," Diamond said.