By After some rough losses, the Long Beach State softball team will make it a point to keep its composure and roll with the punches when it heads to Fullerton this week.
Julia Lombardi, junior infielder, said, “I think we just let the pressure get to us a little bit these last games, and this week we’ve definitely been talking a lot about being relaxed, staying calm and having the same approach in every at bat as we would against a top ranked team or an average team.”
Head coach Kim Sowder agrees that the team needs to stay focused on their performance, rather than the team they’re playing against.
“We’re just trying to build on our confidence as a team and really trying to play to the best of our abilities and stay focused on ourselves and not get caught up in who we’re playing,” Sowder said. “We don’t need to add any extra pressure because of our opponents.
Junior catcher Lauren Macleod added, “[We’re building from these last games by] staying relaxed, staying within our own team and having each other’s backs no matter what. We need to focus on not playing as individuals and instead playing as one unit.”
Macleod was also able to provide insight on how the 49ers prepare to face such tough teams.
“We try to address what the pitchers are going to throw, hitting-wise,” MacLeod said. “Our pitching coach also tries to learn what their hitters are going to do…But, other than that, we stick to the same routines we normally have.”
Coach Sowder commented on the team’s weakness as well.
“We really need to clean up our defense,” Sowder said. “That’s something we’d like to see improvement on and be a lot more consistent with. Our hitting is going to come and go as any offense does but our defense needs to improve. It definitely was a difference maker in the game we should’ve won and the game we did win. We’re really learning from our mistakes.”
Although the team has had some tough losses, Sowder mentioned how the team can get better from learning from those games.
“We are focusing on getting stronger as a team and dealing with adversity, having good at bats and dealing with pressure situations,” Sowder added. “I feel like we didn’t stick to our routines in pressure situations and we took ourselves out of the at bat. We didn’t hit the way we hit all the time; we made the moment bigger and we can’t do that. Every at bat [has] an opportunity to make a difference in the game.”
The Beach will be up against Fresno State and Florida on today starting at 12:30 p.m. On Saturday, the team will take on Michigan State at 2:30 and on Sunday they’ll battle Indiana State and South Carolina for the wins beginning at 9 a.m. in Fullerton.
