Last year, SFU’s softball team had what Head Coach Mike Renney called a “mediocre year.” They finished sixth in the conference, and have been picked to finish seventh in the annual preseason Coaches Poll.
“You know, at this point [the standings are] pretty much wide open,” coach Renney told The Peak. “We’re in the early stages of what I would call a rebuilding process.”
“Having said that, it often comes down to chemistry at this point. We got a good group of seniors in terms of experience and numbers, but we haven’t produced on a regular basis yet. So if the seniors have a good year, we’re going to have a good year.”
The team will have six returning seniors for the season, and Renney expects them to lead the team throughout the season, and show the younger players how it’s done for the future.
“Lead through example and performance, and certainly help guide the underclassmen,” he said on his expectations for the seniors. “Their stats themselves have to certainly be at the top end of the team. But again, it’s going to be them bringing up either our new kids or younger kids, bringing them up to speed quick enough so that they can all contribute.”
One of the biggest challenges heading into the season is how to prepare. Due to the weather, the team has not been able to practice much outdoors, instead having to practice regularly in the gym. There has been a couple of times where the team had to scrap plans to play inside, due to snow being on the field.
“This is adversity,” said Renney. “Quality rises to adversity, and that’s what we hope to do. We certainly have had good success from the past, coming from a gymnasium to an outside softball field [. . .] you got to deal with wind, you got to deal with weather, all those sort of things. So, we’re practicing at 6’oclock in the morning when the university is still asleep, and so our athletes are getting up early and dealing with that adversity. Now they get to sleep in and play a game under the daylight.”
Another challenge for this team will be scoring runs, as they were last in batting average and other major offensive categories. But Renney stresses a balanced approach will bring more success.
“I think it’s a combination of offence and defence. You just simply can’t put them in separate vacuums. Because if we’re struggling defensively, and we’re giving up more runs, that puts more pressure on the offence, and then the offence gets tight. If we can cut down on some of the runs against, keep us in more games, the offence will be a little more free swinging, so to speak. And they both hand in hand will support each other.”
The Clan’s first home game will be February 28 against rivals Western Washington.
