The new spring sports season is now in full swing, and for fast pitch, this new season brings with it new consistency, new talent, and new goals.

Softball’s Varsity team has had high turnover in coaches- this year’s seniors will have had three different head coaches over the course of their softball careers. But new Varsity head coach Jon Kinsley who had been the JV coach for the past sixteen years, wants Liberty to change that.

“I have been here for a long time and I thought it was time for me to step up to the plate and bring some stability to our varsity program,” Kinsley said.

Aside from the new stability Kinsley is bringing to the team, softball has a new goal this season: to make it to state and finish in the top eight. Kinsley is confident that the team has a good chance to achieve this goal because of the consistent dedication to training the fast pitch ladies have had in the off-season. Before the season even started the team trained together after school two to three times per week, and often went to a softball facility in Redmond on Saturdays. In addition, Kinsley has high hopes that the move to 2A will be beneficial to the team’s success.

“I think we have an opportunity to do really well because we are finally competing against schools that are our size- we have always been fighting an uphill battle with schools that are bigger than us and we finally have a level playing field now. I think [2A] is a great thing,” Kinsley said.

Senior Sydney Hopper, who has been the main pitcher on varsity since her freshman year and team captain for the past two years, is also sure that with the talent of several promising freshman like Kendall Kauzlarich and Sarah Abraham, and veteran players like senior Carina Morris along with the new training regimen is setting up the fast pitch team for a strong season.

“We have a really young team this year but we also have a really good mix of experienced players as well and I am really excited to see what a lot of our younger players are going to do this season,” Hopper said. “I am confident that we will have a great season.”