|
|||
 
|
By Earl Scott
"This year they know what to do; last year the team was young
and in transition," said new USU hitting coach Lonny Sargent.
"They have a hunger and fire in them this year, we're still
young, but having six upper classmen will Last's year's Aggies went 8-40 and struggled with inconsistency: When they lost, they lost big -- 10-1 to BYU and 10-2 to Southern Utah. When they won, they also won big, 8-2 vs. Cal State Northridge and 9-1 at UC Riverside. Few games were close. Sargent said the team wants to forget last year's struggles. "A lot of the players last year were recruited by a previous coach. Now we have more of coach [Debbie] Bilbao's players." he said. "It's really tough sometimes to ask a player to change systems and philosophies the new coach is installing." Usually it will take a coach a couple of years to get the players to buy into their system, Sargent said. "We still intend to run a lot this year, but we want to drive a runner in when someone gets on base," Sargent said. Last year too many runners were left stranded on base. Coaching female athletes to be more aggressive is nothing new for Sargent, who has been involved in women's softball for 15 years. "Many of these players have been coached by men their entire athletic careers -- be it dad in Little League or a male coach in high school," he said. "They don't know how to respond to a female coach, or the reverse will happen and they only have had female coaches and don't know how to respond to a male coach." Sargent and Head Coach Bilbao have spent a lot of time developing a rapport with each other so the continuity between coaches becomes part of the team. "We both think it is important to have a male and female coach on the team," he said. "We have to work together so the team responds to the coach, not the female coach or the male coach, and I think we are doing a really good job of that this year." Sargent has seen the opportunities for female athletes grow over the years. "It's long overdue and it's not up to where it should be, but I see things only getting better for female athletes as time goes on," he said. "USU treats us really good and has been fair with our program. I can't complain at all. They do all they can for us." The Aggies will take their new, aggressive attitude on the road to the University of Utah to start their fall season, Sargent said. "It's important for us to play a top schedule," he said. "We want to get better as a team and as a program, and that is how we will get there. Playing easy doesn't get us ready for the Big West Conference." The Aggies will start playing in the Sun Belt Conference in 2005. Sargent said joining a conference hasn't affected recruiting much. The softball coaches recruit players who want to be at USU, have outstanding character, and are capable of playing Division I softball, Sargent said. "We want girls who are ready to succeed both on and off the field," he said. "Academics are just as important as softball is to the program. Despite the recent cold weather, the team is working hard to get ready to start the fall season.
|
||