The Bellefonte Area High School softball team continues to “round the bases” of their 2021 season, overcoming new challenges in order to have a successful year.

The varsity team won its most recent games against Hollidaysburg Area High School on May 1, with a score of 10-0 for each. The junior varsity (JV) team also won its most recent game against Huntingdon Area High School with a score of 15-0 on April 27. The varsity team currently holds a win-to-loss record of 9-1, while the JV team maintains a record of 5-1. 

The team has managed to acquire this impressive score while faced with various interruptions and adjustments to their season caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Coach Travis Foster explains the specific challenges that the team has faced so far this season. 

 “Between our school, and others getting shut down, getting any feeling of consistency is tough… Sports like softball, you need lots of repetitions. You need lots of consistent swings, defensive reps, and game situations. You can only simulate so much in practice, and there is no substitute for game competition,” Coach Foster said. 

Coach Foster described an unconventional method that the team utilizes to consider how to overcome these conflicts – by using the formula “E + R = O – Event + Response = Outcome.” 

Due to the unprecedented and continuously changing nature of  the challenges of this season,  CoachFoster believes that it is important to understand that “we have zero control over the events that happen to us.” 

 “The most important thing we can do is give a great response to those events. The better our response is…we put ourselves in a better position to reach the outcomes we want.”

The varsity team is currently scheduled to play 11 more games, while JV has 9 games remaining. The next event is scheduled to be an away game against Hollidaysburg Area High School on May 1. 

Coach Foster summarized his expectations for the remainder of the 2021 softball season in three words: “Give your best.”

Senior Lily Gardner plays in the outfield and as the lead in the hitting lineup for the varsity team. She shares similar challenges to those that Coach Foster desrcribes, but she too has a positive outlook and expectations for the rest of the season. 

“Even through all the bad at bats, strike outs, or balls missed, we never fail as a team to bounce back and get better,” she said.