How Covid Has Changed The Club Softball Season 

The University of Oregon’s Club Softball team is a non-profit student-run organization that includes very dedicated players. The team usually plays with various other teams from all over the Pacific Northwest and even some from California. However, this year with COVID-19 restrictions, the team has had no games this season so far. 

“Pre-COVID-19, we would schedule a pretty rigorous practice schedule leading up to the beginning of our season, which could start anywhere from November to February. We typically practice 3 days a week with conditioning and we hold our girls to a high standard of play. There are 4 other teams in our league of the National Club Softball Association (NCSA) that we are a part of, so in the regular season, we alternate home and away games with each of them (Boise State, Washington State, Eastern Washington University, and Gonzaga University) where we play in a 3 game series with each. Two years ago was our first time participating in the NCSA and we qualified for regionals, which takes us to play against teams from other regions of the NCSA down in Central California. From there, upon winning, we travel to Columbus, Georgia where nationals are held. We came in 14th in the nation two years ago when we made it there, and last year we were on the right track to make it there again to improve our status. Unfortunately, COVID-19 impaired our progress and also halted our play this year. However, we are excited to get back at it in full swing next season. We organize everything in terms of travel, lodging, and setting up a practice and game schedules. It’s a time-consuming position to be on our board, but extremely rewarding when we see it all come together on the field. We also are lucky enough to have two hard-working and tremendous volunteer coaches who commute from Portland for our practices. They push us to be the best players we can be and really aid in building team camaraderie. In a regular season, the amount of time spent practicing, traveling, and playing together makes everyone extremely close, and we really bond like family. Even though I won’t be able to play next year since I am an outgoing senior, I look forward to seeing the amazing things this team will accomplish,” said Senior, Kacey Suess. Kacey Suess is the current Club Softball’s president who is very excited to see the team reach its goals, but sad to let them go as she graduates this year. 

This year the team is dedicated to growing their endurance more and more by conditioning on Wednesdays and having a two-hour practice on Sundays. Yet, because of COVID-19, the team can not have their usual, rigorous three-day practices, no games, and that means no traveling. However, that isn’t stopping them from growing and becoming more confident in their sport. They are also in hopes of contacting colleges from Portland to see if they are interested in playing any games against each other, hopefully soon. 

Jane Morabito who is a sophomore this year and her first-ever season playing with the Club Softball team expresses what playing and practices are like this year with COVID-19. “When we started in November there was no guarantee that we would have any games but I went into it just hoping to play softball even if it meant practicing only. I feel like if the pandemic wasn’t happening we would have been able to do a lot more team bonding and our team would have gotten closer. It was still fun though just getting to know everyone at practice and I really enjoy our practices. I always look forward to them. It would have been nice to play in games but the fact that we could practice at all was really nice. Having practiced a couple of days a week gave me something to look forward to every week because students really couldn’t do much else or have much social interaction besides with immediate friends.”

The Eugene community will be awaiting their return to games and is very excited to see how they have grown and endured in Softball.