Coming from a season in 2016 that saw the Fresno City College softball team carry an impressive 27-game win streak, an overall record of 39-7, an undefeated conference record and a conference title that came with it, the FCC Softball team is more than ready to have an even better 2017 season.  With their first home game of the season against Bakersfield College on February 2 at 2 p.m., the softball team is eager to showcase their young talent.

Coach Rhonda Williams, who was named Coach of the Year in the north region last season, believes she has a strong group of players, and they are ready to compete in every game.

“This team has more depth this year so we are going to have stronger players coming off of the bench,” Williams said .

“We may not have the same amount of power hitters like we did last year, but we definitely have more speed and a lot of good contact hitters,” she added.

Williams believes that while the team may be composed differently than last year, they will be just as good.

With a high number of new players, Williams believes that the biggest obstacle in the upcoming season will be putting all the pieces together and figuring out which combinations works the best as far as the lineup goes.

She expects the upcoming freshmen to work hard and compete for the starting positions so that the team can become much stronger. With only three returning players from last season, Williams and her staff will have a young team to compete with, but she feels that only makes them more hungry for a championship run.

Now that last season’s Pitcher of the Year for the north region, Sarah Santana, is no longer with the team, Williams is looking to sophomore catcher Karen Zamora to be an impact player both on offense and defense and also to be a leader for her new teammates.

Catcher Francia Sanchez and infielder Amanda Mets, both freshman, believe that they have a good enough team to compete for a state championship. Even though they still have a lot of work to do, they have a lot of energy and are ready to compete.

Both believe that one of the things they need to work more on is on pitching. Last season that was one of their strong aspects, and if they can achieve that then the team will be very solid.

With a very talented young team, this season seems to be shaping up to be another great one for Williams’s squad,  the players and coach want everyone to come out and watch them play, because they are ready and committed to bring home the state championship.