Softball team preparing for opening weekend in Clearwater

The Eastern Florida State College softball team has been working their way into shape as they prepare for the season opener on Saturday in Clearwater.

The Titans, under new head coach Shelby Petik, will begin the season with four games at the JUCO Kickoff, opening against Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College and then South Georgia State College on Friday and then will play two more games on Saturday.

"We have been going full speed every day to get them ready to compete," Petik said. "We have been seeing live pitching, but we have to have the mindset that we are not just out here to play. We are out here to beat teams, so practice has been going well but still knocking the rust off and getting back to 100 percent."

Eastern Florida State College has a lot of new faces this season and coach Petik believes this team just keeps getting better in practice.

"We are a lot better than we were in the fall, a lot of that has to do with players just getting back to playing all the time and also learning a new scheme of things and how we are going to do things," Petik said. "We have a lot more depth this year, we need to be deep and I think that is going to get us through the long haul when we play those 10-games in a week stretches. Depth is going to be a huge advantage for us."

One of the places of depth is on the mound this season as the Titans have three new pitchers to go with returning all-conference pitcher Trinity Howard and returner Danielle Branton.

Howard finished last season 11-9 with a 3.19 ERA with 108 strikeouts and brings experience to a talented group. Makenzie Forte, Mandy Hedetniema-Taylor and Ariana Gonzalez join the Titans and all bring something different to the mound.

"We have a pretty young staff, three freshman that are going to be huge contributors in the circle, but we have Trinity back and we will rely on her a lot this season," Petik said. "Mandy is a power arm, she like to throw it hard, had a lot of strikeouts in the fall. Makenzie likes to dice it up, commands the strike zone and is a reliable arm while Arianna can change speeds and really has been the most effective in the fall because of her movement."

In the field there are some familiar names from last season's team as all-conference player Kayla Domon is back along with Molly Reid, Kaitlyn Wilson, Sarah Leach, Rachel Lamoureaux, Alyssa Agrippa and Jenna Malone, giving the Titans some veteran leadership.

Add in a strong freshman class and Grasyn Holland, Alyssa Tossi and Addi Lyle, who have joined the team as transfers and Petik believes this team will be better this season.

"We will be good at the small things. The attention to detail. We will be able to move a runner when we need to move a runner and drive them in when we need the run," Petik said. "We are not going to be the flashiest team out there or the fastest team out there, but we are going to work hard and grind out runs. We will find a way because everyone will be ready to play at their positions."

The Titans home opener will be Thursday, February 3 against Daytona State College. The doubleheader will begin at 4 p.m. at Titans Softball Complex on the Melbourne campus.