Palo Alto High School’s softball team is noticing early season struggles after suffering a crushing 12-0 defeat against Pioneer High School, placing them last in the league and tallying their sixth straight loss of the season. However, they are only one game behind Lynbrook, who have a record of 0-3.

Although Pioneer is one of the toughest opponents for Paly, the Vikings were still not performing at their greatest potential. Paly struggled throughout the course of the difficult game and was unable to gain back the momentum they needed in order to bounce back from a relatively slow start.

“We were playing against one of the best pitchers we’ll face this season so hopefully it’ll help us prepare for league,” senior Jesse Kim said.

This disappointing start has helped the girls realize that the team’s gameplan and preparation need to be modified if they want to succeed in future games.

“We could definitely work on hitting more with pitchers of different speeds, but more importantly adjusting to each pitch and not using different pitch speeds as an excuse for our subpar hitting,” Kim said. “Also, one of our major infielders, [sophomore] Sophie Frick, just came back from basketball, which was a good boost for our morale.”

Their game against San Mateo on March 9 was a closer match than the one against Pioneer, but the Vikings still ultimately lost with a score of 4-2.

The team was looking to bounce back as they played Santa Clara yesterday, March 17. They hoped that their improved preparations and boosted morale would give them a better chance at success.

The girls still have several games awaiting them to turn their season around.