By Jeff Appelblatt
Freehold High School’s softball team was set to begin its season April 1, but rain changed that plan.
The team knew 24 hours prior and yet, coach Danielle Orender knew it was still necessary to hold its regularly scheduled practice March 31 — even if it was inside the gym because of the wet weather outside.
“This weather definitely gives us more time to hone in on fundamentals,” the second-year coach said at the practice.
So, the team opened its season in the next game.
“Our first game [was scheduled for April 3] at Brick Memorial [High School],” Orender said, not even thinking about the possibility of another rainout.
Freehold’s coach has high hopes for her team, mainly because of the girls who are back from last year.
“We have a lot of seniors back. We have our two senior pitchers back, Courtney Dean and Sam Gabriele. We have our catcher, Amanda [Edwards], back,” Orender said.
The team will rely on much of its young players as well.
“We have a lot of young girls coming up, too,” the coach said. “We have a lot of infielders [and] outfielders that are definitely new, and they’re looking good.”
As few and far between as the wins came last season — the Colonials won only five of their 18 games — the coach anticipates a much better campaign this time around.
“We’re putting in the hard work, and it’s paying off,” Orender said. “We definitely faced a lot of adversity. That’s just how we’re going to get better.”
The coach hopes that the team learned lessons from last year’s struggle. Instead, this year it will be about other things.
“[Our goal will be] turning it around. [We] know [now] what our challenges are going to be and how to overcome them,” Orender said.
Scrimmages were limited because of the weather, but they still managed to help the coach feel more confident in her expectations.
“We beat Toms River [High School] East, 3-1,” Orender said about the competition March 30. “That definitely showed us that we can buckle down and really keep with the teams that might have more of an edge on us.
“That just helps us work harder, hustle more, really focus on what we need to get done and [to focus on] what we need to accomplish.”
At this point, Freehold’s coach just hopes that her team will be able to accomplish what it needs to: putting together more wins than last year and competing every day.
The next chance the Colonials will have will be April 5 at Freehold Township High School at 4 p.m. The Patriots won each of the two games in the battle of Freehold schools last year, 9-4 and 12-3.
