New coach Elizabeth “Liz” Kocon and assistant coach Lindsay Price have plenty of experience under their cleats and passion to spare. They hope to inspire the girls and teach them about softball, hard work and passion. For the first time, the team also has a pitching coach, Hillary Rotunda who will come to several practices per week to work with pitchers on their technique.

Kocon grew up in Katy, Texas and has played softball since the age of 6. She began playing competitively at 10, and continued her softball career at the University of Kansas. She played there for 5 years, and because of an injury was a redshirt for one year. She was an outfielder for most of her career, and was a strong batter. She hopes to cultivate a new love for the sport within her players. Her idea of a successful season is one in which each player gives their full effort.

“Our main goal is just to outwork any other team. We’ve got a very young team, so [another goal] is just working and setting the foundation for future years. I want to create that passion and work ethic,” Kocon said.

Assistant coach Price has a similar background to Kocon. She grew up in Birmingham, Alabama and started playing softball around the age of 6. She walked on the the softball team at the University of Southern Mississippi. Price agrees, that hard work will be very important to the team, and she also wants to see the players have fun and enjoy the sport.

“We want to grow the sport and get more people to come out next year, and keep building up the momentum and change the way [the team] sees and plays the game,” Price said.

Both she and Kocon have noticed a very different relationship with softball between where they grew up and up North.

“We grew up playing [softball] down South, whereas up here it’s kind of like a hobby,” Price said.

With three cancelled games and no outdoor practices yet this year, the coaches have more to learn and observe about the team. They hope to start practicing on the diamond as soon as possible, especially so that they can accurately assess the team’s abilities.

“I’m a little antsy right now, because I won’t really know too much until [we] get out on the field and see [what we look like] compared to other teams, I just want to get out on the field, that’s the goal,” Kocon said.

Both Kocon and Price feel that as a coaching staff they complement each other well and are looking forwards to a season of growing and learning.

“We both know the game so well, but we both go about the way we coach so differently, so I think we balance each other in terms of strengths and weaknesses to better benefit [the team] as a whole,” Price said.