This spring was suppose to be a breakout season for Fountain Central softball.
The Mustangs doubled their win total last year from 2018 with eight wins — and returned a core of players ready to make some noise — including five seniors.
“One of our assistants used the word deflating and it really seems to fit,” Mustangs’ coach Ric Walke said. “We as a team put so much into this season. Some people might say, ‘well the season didn’t get started and you only had four practices so what’s the big deal.’ Our players did a lot of off season workouts this year to prepare. They were in the weight room, working with pitching and hitting coaches, coming to optional workouts. It was such a let down when it was made official last week.”
Fountain Central would have celebrated the senior seasons of Alexis Griffin, Alexis Van Hook, Shy Rahm, Maddy Massey, and Nikki Ervin as the Mustangs chased their first sectional title since 1996. There will be no spring season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We all know that there are much more important things to worry about right now,” Walke said. “We understand that the last thing we need to worry about is athletic competition, but when that returns we will feel a sense of normalcy that will give us reason to feel relief.”
With those five seniors not returning, Walke says the focus is now on the future.
“Now we are just hoping to get a chance to do some summer work with our teams,” he said. “Our underclassmen missed out on development this season also.”
What could have been a special season, will unfortunately have to be left at that for Fountain Central softball.
