It’s been a stellar season so far for the girls on the Lac La Biche Dodgers U13 softball team. They remains undefeated after eight games. The Dodgers play in the Lakeland Minor Ball League and currently sit at the top of their nine-team division.
Joanna Bobocel, the coach for the Dodgers, said going into the season, she had a positive mindset that the team would do very well.
“I am always optimistic and had a good outlook about this season,” Bobocel told Lakeland This Week.
In their most recent contest-which took place at the Bold Centre ball diamonds on Wednesday, May 29-the Dodgers won 16-5 over the visiting Boyle U13 girls. Despite winning, Bobocel said, this was the team’s most challenging game so far this season.
The Boyle team, she said, is a very strong group, with great pitching and catching, which she says makes stealing bases a lot harder. However, she continued, her players also showed what they could do on the mound during Wednesday’s game, adding that their pitching and catching as equally as strong.
“Our girls were swinging and being aggressive at the plate tonight…they were sliding into bases and avoiding tags and being strategic with their base running,” she explained.
The Dodgers’ first game of the season-which took place on May 8 in Lac La Biche-resulted in a 24-6 victory over Goodfish Lake. This game, Bobocel said, was a strong confidence booster for the team, and helped to get the players pumped up for the season. During the May 24 weekend, the team won four games played at the league’s mid-season tournament in Bonnyville.
This is Bobocel’s second season as coach of the Dodgers. She added that while there are always a few older players who leave each year, the team in turn gains some young blood.
While last year’s season was a solid one for the Dodgers, the team failed to make it to the finals.
Despite this, Bobocel said, it was a great learning year for the Dodgers. Since then, she continued, her players have improved considerably. Even though the team is having an extremely strong season, there are still things players can improve upon, she added.
This includes having a general knowledge of the game, and players putting more strategic thinking into what their next moves will be while competing both at home and on the road.
“The girls have made great improvements since last year and work hard at practices and give their everything on game days,” she said. “All the girls take constructive criticism well…always ready to improve and get better.”
As for the outlook for the rest of this season, she said, the key to success will be to simply continue to win games and for the team to work hard.
While winning is important, Bobocel said, so is having fun, enjoying the game and gaining confidence.
Upcoming games can be found in the online schedule at the Lakeland Minor Ball website.
