This softball season has been one with many highlights. The Gustavus women’s softball team has a winning record, beat its rival St. Thomas and has taken many trips including one to the Field of Dreams.

The team is on a roll. They are 19-7 overall and 11-1 in the conference. The team has 12 conference games remaining and a non-conference double header before the MIAC play-offs begin.

Head Coach Jeff Annis has big goals for the team.

“Our goal is to win the conference in the regular season and win the conference tournament which would put us in the NCAA National tournament,” Annis said.

The Gusties lead the conference in hitting and fielding, and Annis has said that pitching has also been solid.

“We are pretty solid in most phases of the game … but we still need to continue improving. We only start one senior so we are a little inexperienced,” Annis said.

Junior Captain Kate Rentschler also stated improvement as one of the team’s goals.

“We intend to continue improving as a team and working out the smaller details that will become very important down the road. We hope to play to our full potential for the remainder of the season, continue our winning record and to win the rest of our conference games this season,” Rentschler said.

The team has done some travelling this year with trips to Arizona and Illinois. Over spring break the team went to Rock Island, Ill. for the Augustana Tournament, stopping on the way back at the house from the film Field of Dreams in Iowa.

“The Field of Dreams was a really neat experience! After watching the movie and learning more about the field, it was really cool to see everything firsthand. I think everyone had a really good time,” Rentschler said.

Another highlight of the season has been the Gustie’s win over St. Thomas.

“Our game against St. Thomas last Saturday was the most intense game I have played in my career. The game went into ten innings where we unfortunately ended up losing, but it was a hard fought battle. We came back and won the second game 4-0. That was the first time we have beaten St. Thomas since 2009,” Senior Captain Lisa Klass said.

Both Klass and Rentschler credit their coaches and teammates for the success the team has had this year.

“We have a lot of talent on our team and everyone always works hard to learn and improve in order to become better individual and team players. We have great coaches who are very knowledgeable and who sincerely try to help us get better. We also function as a team really well both on and off the field, and our team chemistry definitely comes into play on the field,” Rentschler said.

Without all of the leadership of the juniors and seniors the team’s highlights reel wouldn’t be as exciting. Klass said that being a leader isn’t difficult with this team.

“The girls make it easy, we all work hard in practice and in games. I had great leaders on my team throughout my time at Gustavus and I wanted to be that same kind of leader for this team,” Klass said.

Rentschler said it feels like the season has flown by. The Gusties are currently tied for first in the conference with 12 conference games left to play. The team is looking forward to the challenge the rest of the season poses.

“I’m so excited for the things I know we can achieve this season,” Klass said.