2008 Woodie Awards
Softball overcomes difficulties, scores, looks to future
Carly Perrin
Issue date: 4/6/07 Section: Sports
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The women's softball team at Guilford faced sundry difficulties this season: 1) not having a coach for nearly the first two months of practice, 2) barely having enough players to field a team, 3) a forfeit brought on by a midseason bout of illness, and 4) the awareness that recruitments for next season have not been secured.
Athletic Director Marion Kirby was especially worried when the problems started to surface at the beginning of last semester.
"When Randy Doss and I were faced with the sudden resignation of the current softball coach, Ty Cook, the choice of the type of replacement that we should get was the top question … and then there was the realization that we might not have enough talent to field a team," said Kirby.
Fall practice was beset with problems from the start. None knew better then the team captains Ciara Locklear, junior, and Kelly Guarnieri, sophomore. They were not only responsible for trying to help find a replacement, an activity that the whole team was involved in, but for leading their team in the absence of a coach.
"Even though we had a lot of the responsibility of re-staffing the position and acting as coaches, without the help of the administration and other Guilford teams, we wouldn't have been able to pull it off," Locklear responded.
Locklear went on to explain how Randy Doss and the soccer coach, Jeff Bateson, would stand in as coach during some of the practices and helped with uniforms and other things that the team needed to continue. Also, when the members of the softball team were lacking in numbers, two soccer players and four basketball players volunteered to help fill the needed positions.
But, when flu season hit, four women's softball members fell ill, and they finally had to cancel their Feb. 14 game due to not having enough players to field a team.
Locklear explains, "All of these events forced us to really rely on each other, and eventually we became a more cohesive unit. Since the beginning of the season, as a group we have come together in coaching, learning and constructively criticizing each other."
Athletic Director Marion Kirby was especially worried when the problems started to surface at the beginning of last semester.
"When Randy Doss and I were faced with the sudden resignation of the current softball coach, Ty Cook, the choice of the type of replacement that we should get was the top question … and then there was the realization that we might not have enough talent to field a team," said Kirby.
Fall practice was beset with problems from the start. None knew better then the team captains Ciara Locklear, junior, and Kelly Guarnieri, sophomore. They were not only responsible for trying to help find a replacement, an activity that the whole team was involved in, but for leading their team in the absence of a coach.
"Even though we had a lot of the responsibility of re-staffing the position and acting as coaches, without the help of the administration and other Guilford teams, we wouldn't have been able to pull it off," Locklear responded.
Locklear went on to explain how Randy Doss and the soccer coach, Jeff Bateson, would stand in as coach during some of the practices and helped with uniforms and other things that the team needed to continue. Also, when the members of the softball team were lacking in numbers, two soccer players and four basketball players volunteered to help fill the needed positions.
But, when flu season hit, four women's softball members fell ill, and they finally had to cancel their Feb. 14 game due to not having enough players to field a team.
Locklear explains, "All of these events forced us to really rely on each other, and eventually we became a more cohesive unit. Since the beginning of the season, as a group we have come together in coaching, learning and constructively criticizing each other."
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