A mere five months after an incredible season ended with a loss to Florida in the Women's College World Series, Auburn softball is prepared to start it all over again, and it appears they are picking up right where they left off.
On Friday, Oct. 30th, the Tigers completed their fall ball schedule, remaining undefeated despite some key injuries.
Two Auburn shortstops, Haley Fagan and Kelsey Bogaards, have suffered potentially serious knee injuries. It is still foggy as to when these players will be able to return.
“Both of them are going to be out for an undetermined amount of time based on the rehabilitation," coach Clint Myers said. “The rehabbing is very stringent and both of them are looking forward to getting back early in the season."
Despite the setback, the Tigers are moving forward.
“We've got some freshman [who are] accelerating now,” Myers said. “We’ve got Whitney Jordan back in the middle and she has been refreshing."
With these key additions, the Tigers are hoping to build on last season's success.
This team is young, yet experienced. The Tigers are made up of 10 juniors and eight sophomores, all with a common goal: to finish what they started last year.
“I think its more perfecting everything now instead of trying to get our bearings on what we want to do with new coaching,” said senior pitcher Lexi Davis. "So now that we have kind of been seasoned and we have everybody, we want to round out what we did last year and build on it.”
The experienced players have made an effort of changing the mentality in the locker room. They no longer just want to get to the World Series, they want to win it all.
“We definitely have that expectation now, and I think we are putting that on (the underclassmen),” Davis said. "We are taking on more of a teaching role with them and trying to bring them up to speed which they have been doing a really good job of.”
The culture around the program is one based on winning. Last year was good, but they want more.
This fall, they have been nothing short of dominant throughout the fall games. They finished the fall season with two wins in a double-header. The first came against Northwest Florida by a score of 19-1 and the second came against Columbus State, against whom the Tigers strolled to an 11-1 victory. If this continues, we can expect a lot of success out of the Tigers come spring.
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