Nichole Miller

With winter sports coming to an end, spring sports are the buzz around the halls and on social media for Van Buren athletes. Along with the high hopes of sunny spring days following a bitter winter comes the smiling faces and hard work on the softball field. Van Buren girls recently started their season with their first official practice on Monday, Feb. 24.

The 2014 softball team is being joined by two new staff members, Jessica Hunter and Hannah Crane. Hunter, the JV coach, graduated from Arlington High School and is currently attending BGSU. Crane is an assistant varsity coach that played for 4 years while attending Van Buren High School until she graduated in 2006 and then continued to play at Muskingum and University of Findlay.

According to head coach Stacy Sharp, there are too many good things about softball season to pick just one.

“I love getting to see the girls each day at practice and just being together as a team,” said Sharp. “I love to see the growth in a team from the beginning of the season to the end.”

Coach Sharp said the excitement and positive attitude the team shares are big contributors into making the sport so great. She added that this year, although she doesn’t like to pick a “big game,” Arlington will probably be the season’s biggest rival after losing to them in the BVC championship game by just one run last year. Along with Sharp, senior Robyn Flick added that she too believes winning the BVC will be the main goal for the team this season.

After having a winning record of 12-10 last year, Sharp is optimistic about this season and is looking forward to watching the hard work during practice pay off in the games.

Junior Kailey Leal was in complete agreement with wanting to win the BVC, but her answer differed on who she would like to beat the most. Leal looks forward to beating North Baltimore due to the loss they had against them in tournament play last season. Leal said, “We did not play very well against them in tournaments, and I want a redo.” Along with that, Leal said that she loves softball season because she considers her team a second family.

New to the team is freshman Kila Fultz. When asked what the first word that came to mind was when she thought about softball starting she responded, “Finally!”

The softball team has high aspirations this season and they have an experienced new staff to help push them to reach their goals.