It is often said that athletics is just as much of a mental game as it is a physical one. For the girls softball team, the former became apparent in their disappointing season this year.

“We had a tough season this year. After losing seven seniors last year, we struggled a bit to find our groove and play cohesively as a team. We lost many games that we definitely should have won due to mental errors and a lack of focus.” 

Sydney Liu, junior

The team lost to Saratoga, Los Altos, Lybrook and Cupertino at their last four games with scores of 8-7, 7-5, 5-4 and 6-3, respectively. 

The team seemed to strive at home games where their final record was 7-4, while its final record at away games was 1-7.

Their total record at the season’s end was 8-11.

“I honestly think [having more wins at home games than away games] was just a coincidence because we had some really good away games. Although, there is always better energy at home since it is our field and we navigate the field better than anyone else. Considering the amount of seniors that we lost last year the season went pretty well. We did have a losing record, but most of the games were really close and we ended up losing in the seventh inning. We worked hard in practice and focused on our errors, but in the games, we would get tense and upset over errors and that affected our performance.”

Samantha McBride, senior

But even with this disappointing outcome, all players said that they enjoyed the experience and grew together as people.  

“I have never been on a team where everyone got along so well and enjoyed being around each other so much,” Liu said. “You could always count on one of your teammates to pick you up after making an error or having a bad at bat.” 

The team continues to grow and improve together and hopes to have more wins as the next season comes around in the 2018-2019 school year.