Written by Newspaper Staff Reporter Lexie Hunter

Here at Allatoona, our varsity softball team practices every day from 4-6:30 pm unless they have a game. Varsity region games start at 5:30, and non-region games start at 7:00 any day of the week. At practices, the team usually does infield and outfield work, practices game-like situations, and batting practice. They start by running laps around the field and stretching, and warming up. After the infield and outfield work, they work on batting. Sometimes they will play “games,” such as base hit round, where they see how many base hits they can get off of Coach Strickland as a team. If they do not hit the number that Coach Steve gives them at the beginning of each practice, they must run as many poles as they missed the number. For example, if he told them to hit 32 at the beginning of practice and they only hit 28, they must run four poles.

Every sport has its challenges, but these softball players explain the challenges of their sport. Senior Carley Drew says, “Softball is harder than other sports because it takes a lot of hand-eye coordination. Hitting the ball coming in fast requires you to see it and put the bat to the ball. Also, catching the ball requires you to see the ball going into the glove. Learning the basics of softball takes a long time. Even now, I am learning new things, and I have been playing for about nine years!” Varsity Fastpitch team member Maci Strickland says, “If you compare softball to baseball, I feel softball is harder. We have shorter base paths, which means you have less time to get rid of the ball, and the ball comes faster to you.”