BLACKSBURG, Va. – As Aristotle once said, we are what we repeatedly do. A lot of Blacksburg softball’s success comes from just that.
“The girls give me a hard time, but I always say turn the page,” head coach Alec Staneck said. “That’s something we have lived by, turn the page move on, and worry about the next pitch.”
In fact, Staneck says it so much, his players laughed when I brought it up.
“Turn the page like he said,” junior pitcher Lorelei Spradlin said. “It’s very important to get over, it get through the inning, and push through and so we come out on top.”
They know he’s right. By turning the page, the Bruins managed to flip a 2-4 start into a 15-1 run.
“That slow start could’ve gone one of two ways and they rally together. These girls are the reason why we are where we are. They make my job a lot easier when they come out here and just work hard,” Staneck said.
Leadership in its finest form, lead in part by a pair of best friends- pitcher Lorelei Spradlin, and catcher Katey Mathena.
“Knowing Lorelei for so long has helped us really create a bond and really, I know if she’s having an off night on one pitch, I know what pitch call to help her bring it back into the other pitches,” Mathena said.
While the Bruins attack the bats on offense, and are quick to collect outs on defense, the bond between these two is quite the advantage.
“I haven’t really heard of many teams that have that so kind of having her back there,” Spradlin said. “Maybe if I do get a wild, she says take a breath. You know what we’re doing we’ve been here before we can get through do it again.”
“Have fun, the game is meant to be fun, so if we go out and have fun, hopefully we can come out on top,” Mathena added.
So if we are truly what we repeatedly do, then Blacksburg softball should have no trouble finding success.