Lack Of Consistency Plagues Lady Sharks Season

After losing two of three games at the Southern Conference Tournament in late April, the Lady Sharks softball team was eliminated from postseason play. The team finished with an 18-30 overall record and a 10-10 conference record.

The Lady Sharks started the season off strong, winning three of their first four games, but they weren’t able to pick up much traction after. They had several long losing streaks that included losing 15 of 18 games in February and a seven game losing streak in April.

“When you go through a situation like this, lots of times people lose confidence, which I think that’s what happened to us,” said sophomore second baseman Megan Garfinkel.

A  factor that affected the Lady Sharks season was the team’s inability to win on the road. The team was 6-14 while playing away from Kendall Campus this season.

Offensively, the Lady Sharks scored 188 runs, had 43 doubles, 11 triples, and nine home runs, but they also struck out 184 times.

During the Southern Conference Tournament, it was more of the same.

The Lady Sharks lost their first game 2-0 against College of Central Florida. They won their next game against Hillsborough Community College, 8-0, before losing 4-3 to the State College of Florida to be eliminated from tournament play.

Maitland was named All-Southern Conference First Team at the State Tournament. Garfinkel, Kiana East, Yurie Hampton and Kasey Trickey all received All-Southern Conference Second Team honors.

Some of the bright spots for the team this year included Trickey, Kiannah Molina and Emma Maitland.

Trickey had the highest batting average for the Lady Sharks hitting .331 and she also added 13 stolen bases. Molina led the team with 24 runs batted in and two home runs. Maitland boasted a 3.27 earned run average.