Softball Teams Must Jell at the Right Time
Although the college softball season hasn't started yet, various websites have predicted the top 20 or 25 teams for the 2015 season. Their predictions are based on various background information including returning players and incoming freshmen with some of them possibly starting or making an impact their first year of college softball. This is all speculation and who knows where the teams will finish when the season concludes following the Women's College World Series in Oklahoma City.
As we all know, a lot can happen between the start of the season and the end of the season. Injuries will occur, players will have hitting and pitching slumps and players may not perform up to their ability. So a lot can happen, and often does, as more than 200 plus Division One teams strive to be in the elite eight in Oklahoma City. Some of the colleges in the northern climates will start their season in warmer climates as you would imagine before the weather gets warmer in their respective states.
While the eyes of the softball world fall on the sport from February to early June, some of the most important developments come during the fall training camp. It’s the first time that the team practices together without the seniors who graduated and with the new faces in the form of freshmen and transfers. While many of the pieces are the same from the prior year, in reality it is a completely new team with a new dynamic. How the team jells and what kind of dynamic it has will determine what kind of year the team will face. If everything goes as hoped, it could be a special year, possibly even with a berth in the College World Series. If the team doesn't jell or come together, then it could be, and often is, a long season with the anticipated good year long gone. It's frustration to be sure, but the teams aren't going to quit because things aren't working out.
Teams may jell earlier or hopefully late in the season when a conference title or berth in the NCAA Championship are on the line. That is why jelling or coming together at the right time is important to what kind of success the team will have. In some cases, however, the team may not come together at all at the appropriate time for whatever reasons or reasons and that makes it a season of disappointment and frustration.
Many coaches would want to their teams to improve as the season progresses and jell at the right time and hopefully land a berth in the Women's College World Series. And this would be a good year to land in the WCWS. Any year a team makes it to Oklahoma City is memorable, but this year is historic in the history of the event because 2015 marks the 25th anniversary of the Women's College World Series in Oklahoma City. It's the silver anniversary of an event that has captivated the interest of thousands of college softball fans year in and year out and each year holds the promise of crowning another national champion. Will Florida repeat and become the first team to do so since Arizona in 2006 and 2007? Or will a team that has never won the national title surprise the other seven teams in the World Series field? In reality, it makes for another entertaining, exciting year for fans, players and coaches.
