Q: What do you want your team's identity to be?
We've discussed it here and there. Yesterday, we had 18 of our 20 girls here to practice for the first time because so many of them are involved in cheer, basketball and so many other things. We want our identity to be a team that's competitive and never quits. No matter the score or the circumstances, we want to finish strong and compete until the final out every time we step on the field.
Q: What has this year's senior class meant to your program?
It's a special group. It's the first time in a while that we've had a senior class with six, and four of them have been a part of the team since seventh grade. Five of the six are varsity players, and they've been playing together for a good while. We feel that they're really special, and we see the success that they're capable of having, so we hope it translates to the field.
Q: Who will be the primary contributors of this year's squad?
Car'Miyah Bullock has a been a really great leader for us for quite a while now, but even more so this year. We've had so many different girls coming in and out because of other activities they're involved in, and she and Zi'Kiyah Bridges were the glue that held us together and pushed the others to continue working hard in their preparation for the season.
Q: Your offense was pretty potent last season. How do you sustain that offensive success?
That senior class that we talked about being special, led by Asia Lenoir and Car'Miyah Bullock, they really stepped up last year offensively. It always seemed like those two, Adrinae Aikens and Kylie Watts always seemed to come up with runners on base, and they produced. When you have girls who can hit home runs on any swing, it helps when you have them scattered throughout your lineup. Teams can't really afford to walk them very often because another girl who's just as dangerous at the plate is coming behind her. We hit a lot of home runs last year, and they put in a lot of work in the weight room last year, so we've got to duplicate that level of preparation and focus to get the same result this time around.
Q: On the other hand, what steps do you guys need to take in order to improve run prevention?
We really want to cut down on mental mistakes. We practiced so many times on simple things like catching ground balls, and we can do those things well, but it's like when we got into certain games last year and just forgot all the effort that we put into cleaning up those issues. I know we can do better this time around, and these girls have been working hard to do so, so I really think they will.
