By GABRIELLE MARTIN, Staff Reporter.
Despite having no season last year, Coach Steven Klinge has big plans for Delta’s softball team for this season and the future.
“We want to make it to regionals and beyond. We want to get to nationals within the next three years is my goal,” says Klinge. Recruiting incoming freshman to play on a team that had no season wasn’t easy for Klinge.
“It’s hard to get athletes to want to come with that cloud hanging over,” he says. But Klinge was able to get some outstanding players, including Jensen Tchorzynski and Blake Garner, who Klinge says are smart players and great hitters.
While the women’s on the team are new to college softball, they aren’t new to playing together.
“They’ve all kind of known each other from when they were younger and playing on travel teams together,” says Klinge.
A fresh start isn’t all that’s new about Delta’s softball team though. This is Klinge’s first time coaching at the college level. He coached three years at the junior varsity level and seven years at the varsity level for Farwell High School in Farwell, Mich.
So how has the new team with new players and new coach been doing this year? They had their first games of the season against Florida State College at Jacksonville, Fla. over spring break. It was the first time the team had played outside.
The first game was a loss at 11-0. The team pulled together and had a closer second game with a final score of 5-4.
“We played fantastic defense the second game,” says Klinge. “Nobody is happy with a loss; but you have to be happy with how you played.”
With games through the rest of March and April, there is still plenty of time left in the season for the softball team to get their season on track. Klinge adds that most of the team will be returning next year as well, which will make for a team that is definitely one to look out for.
“The goal is to get this team on the map and get girls to want to play here,” says Klinge.
