The Oberlin College softball team faced some great competition and warm weather on their recent week-long escapade to Florida.

“Nothing is better than spending a day in 80-degree weather, playing softball, going to the beach afterwards and sipping on fresh-squeezed orange juice,” said Head Coach Adriane Davis.

The OC Yeowomen played a total of ten colleges from across the country in a span of six days at the Gene Cusic Collegiate Classic.

“Most of the teams we played in Florida were amazing. They were bigger, faster, stronger and blonder than us,” sophomore Ashley Gorham said.

The OC squad put up a good fight in losses against Thomas College (4-0), Gustavus Adolphus College (8-0), DePauw University (7-1), University of Wisconsin-Whitewater (15-1), D’Youville College (9-3), Luther College (7-0) and Colby College (8-0).

The team pulled off an exciting win (7-5) against Fredonia State last Thursday. Highlights from the game included senior pitcher Kate Oberg’s three strikeouts and first-year Ruth Allanbrook’s 2-4 at the plate. Senior Miriam Elfstrom went 2-3 on the day to lead the offense.

The team has some areas in which they need to improve. As Gorham said, “The number one thing we need to do is score more runs.”

This means that they need to start hitting the ball better. In addition, Gorham emphasized that the team needs to cut down on errors.

Davis agreed, “We had a nasty habit of prolonging innings by having error after error. When we learn not only to keep runners off the bases but how to control them if they are on, we will be very successful.”  

On a positive note, the team should be much more prepared to play upcoming conference games.

Davis said, “We played amazingly athletic Amazonian teams. How do you compete with other DIII schools like UW-Whitewater, whose enrollment is 11,000 students? And this has taken out the shock of playing NCAC powerhouses like Allegheny and OWU.”  

Almost immediately upon returning from Florida, the softball team headed to Baldwin-Wallace College to play a non-conference game. It was cancelled in the third inning due to rain, but Gorham thought that the game “was much sharper than those in Florida.” The team will match up against Allegheny College on Tuesday, April 11. Look for the OC squad out on the athletic fields as they take on Lake Erie College on April 14.