The MSUM softball team has proven their adaptability skills this season.
The Dragons have yet to play a game at home this season due to weather conditions.
“We are just trying to stay positive with the weather situation,” third-year head coach Kelsey Fehl said. “The players try not to let the weather affect them mentally.”
The long winter has caused half of the Dragons’ conference games to be rescheduled and relocated. The players have been practicing in Nemzek Fieldhouse and artificial surfaces in the meantime.
Although the home games were relocated in hopes of better weather conditions elsewhere, the new locations haven’t been ideal, either.
During the Dragons’ doubleheader at the University of Mary in Bismarck, snow fell during the final innings of the second cold, windy game.
“(The players) just try to keep their hands warm and their arms warmed up to avoid any injury,” Fehl said. “They do a great job of adapting to whatever weather we are playing in or whatever field we are playing on.”
The Dragons currently sit at the bottom of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference standings.
“We are a very young team so the expectations that we have are to get better everyday and learn as much as we can,” Fehl said.
The team consists of mostly underclassmen with only two juniors and one senior.
“One of the standout players and leaders is Amanda Moore,” Fehl said. “She is a great leader on and off the field.”
Moore has been a four-year starter for the Dragons. Last year she led the team in home runs and RBIs while putting up a .306 batting average.
“She is our only senior and has been doing a great job for us both offensively and defensively this season,” Fehl said of the 5-foot-7-inch first baseman.
Moore currently leads the team in homeruns and RBIs with three and 14 respectively.
Crossing their fingers for better weather, the Dragons look to travel to Bemidji State this weekend. The Beavers are near the bottom of the NSIC standings.
Weather permitting, MSUM’s next home game is a doubleheader scheduled for April 23 against Valley City State and then on April 24 against Minnesota-Duluth in a doubleheader.
BY MADALYN LASKE
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