The spring semester’s sports are heating up, waiting to get under way, and next at bat is the Fresno City College women’s softball team.

The Rams hope continue the success they had last year — an 11-15 (6-1 in conference play) record that was capped off with a Central Valley Conference championship. Four players returned from previous two seasons, giving the team a good blend of new faces and veterans to lead the charge for a potential second straight conference title.

Guiding the team is head coach Rhonda Williams, who has been coaching the Rams for 21 years. Williams has been quite successful in her tenure as coach, with three conference championships in the past six years, the most recent being last season.

“My staff and I always want our players to be successful in reaching the top of their potential, and always playing their best,” Williams said.

Preparation during the preseason is one of the ways of building team unity, as first time players work through their positions and where they fit on the roster. The preseason also allows for veteran players to lead by example and show their new teammates what is expected of them. First basemen Adrianna Martinez describes the relationship among her team members.

“It’s great,” Martinez said. “We are doing some team building that will make us closer and hopefully make us a better team.”

With only two weeks of practice together, the team has started to show promise. The team’s calling card this season may be the batting offensive game, with the players’ ability to make solid contact with the ball in their swings as well as being able to read the pitch to determine whether a ball is hittable or not. Second year outfielder Aubrey Blankenburg agrees.

“Hitting is the strongest aspect of my game that I am [constantly] trying to improve on. I take warm-up swings to get the motions [going] before every game,” Blankenburg said.

The Rams are pursuing their common goal of winning this year’s conference championship, knowing the hard work and dedication it will take for them to keep it. They expect a rough path to that goal, but they are confident that this year’s team will surpass the standard set by last year’s team.

“It would mean a lot,” Williams said. “The CVC is a tough conference, and it’s not easy to win and finish in first place.”

“That would be amazing,” Martinez said. “It’s my first year on the team, so it would be great to do that this season.”

Blankenburg said, “It would mean the world to me as this is my last year with the team.”