As spring approaches, many sports are preparing for their upcoming seasons. Berkley offers a wide variety of springtime sports like girls soccer, baseball, boys golf, softball, girls tennis, boys and girls track and field, and boys and girls lacrosse. I asked the members of the softball team, soccer team, and baseball team what their teams are doing in preparation for their upcoming season and what their teams have been focusing on improving.
First I talked to senior and captain of the softball team Mia Hubble. She said, “We had a pretty successful season last year ending with a winning record and a high team batting average of .368. We also had some really successful games, and I would say everyone stepped up and did their part. We’ve been preparing for the new season by holding weight rooms and open gyms in the winter. And those who don’t go to them do a lot of work on their own with their respective travel teams. I think we will need to work hard to fill the spots of the seniors that left last year and to continue to give 100% every game, especially since we play a lot of doubleheaders.” Hubble also explains how there is an entire new staff this season.“Our new varsity head coach, Coach Ari, has been doing a really great job at providing the team/interested softball players with opportunities to improve and get better. Like camps and weight rooms for example.” Overall, softball is ready for the new season with the new coaches and new players who are doing their best to prepare.
Next, I talked to senior captain Maddie Welsh on the girls soccer team for a brief overview of Berkley girls soccer, which seems to have a pretty intense preseason. She said, “In 2023, we won 11 games which probably was the best season since 2016 when we won districts. Our defense was really strong, and we had the strongest offensive side that we have had in a really long time and had a lot of underclassmen on varsity which was really exciting. To prepare for the upcoming season, the varsity and JV players meet every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning at 6 am to do a conditioning workout. It’s been pretty tiring for everyone but it’s really going to get us in shape to be where we need for the season. This preseason, it’s really important that we focus and work on our defensive side since we lost some really strong players last year in that area especially because most of our starting varsity players are going to be underclassmen. But also our offensive side is important as well.” Berkley girls soccer, with a great previous season, are doing their best to prepare for the upcoming season.
Then, I talked to senior Logan Field who plays on the Berkley baseball team. Field said, “We won districts last year, and we shared a tie in our league division. We played a lot of teams that we hadn’t played in the past because our league got reconstructed. It was a really cool opportunity to play the teams we hadn’t played in the past and it was fun to play other teams in different locations. Overall, we had a really fun season. We practice hitting on Tuesdays with the hitting coach and we have offseason lifting as well. We are mostly trying to improve our hitting because our pitching was really strong last year and our hitting wasn’t as strong so there were a lot of tight games where we couldn’t get the big hit or the key run across, so we have been really focusing on our hitting and extra base power this year. The team’s atmosphere this year is awesome, everyone’s so excited to get back and we haven’t won a district in 15 years so everyone wants to repeat it. We have a harder district this year but we feel really confident in it.” Baseball seems to have a tough season ahead, but speaking for the whole of the Berkley students, we are cheering them on!
All these teams are doing great with their early preseason workouts and training which is resulting in team improvement. With many new coaches and team members the energy has shifted in these teams and they are ready for the spring. Many of these teams have hard seasons ahead and are doing their best together to prepare and achieve their team and individual goals.