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Last Saturday's Blue and White BYU Softball scrimmage saw an 11-2 win for the white team. But after the disappointment of the canceled 2020 season, many players were happy just to play as a team, including senior Emilee Erickson, who said, 'Even this fall has been a little bit different as far as practice because there are all these COVID guidelines and stuff, and so it feels like we’ve been a little separated. It was really awesome to get everyone to play together.”
White team’s Violet Zavodnik scored four runs on three hits in the scrimmage, while her teammate Huntyr Ava recorded 5 EBI, including a 2-run double.
This great success at the plate is something that Ava and her teammates attribute to a greater focus on hitting in practice this fall.
'We’ve been practicing on hitting a lot and getting to our zones,” said Ava. Erickson added, “We’ve done a lot more drills than we have in the past, like really breaking down the swing, and I think it’s definitely paying off because we have a lot more girls hitting the long ball.”
The girls will take their improved hitting into the 2021 softball season, where the Cougars are preseason favorites in the WCC Coaches Poll.
“It’s good to know that people know that we’re good, but it’s also good for us to stay humble and know that people are going to come after us and want to beat us,” said Erickson about the team's preseason ranking.
As their shining performance in the Blue and White scrimmage shows, the team is well on their way to being fully prepared for the 2021 season — whatever it may hold.
Ava said, “We’ve focused more on just rolling with the punches. Whatever this year gives us, we’ll be grateful for whatever we get.”
The softball team is slated to play two more blue-white scrimmages before they finish fall practices.