New schedule, new playes, new season, Saratoga ready to compete
SARATOGA» With new league setup, new schedules, new players and a new season, Saratoga Springs softball team is ready to show that they can improve on their 10-11 record from last season.
The Blue Streaks head coach Geoffrey Loiacono said that he expects his team to be more competitive and expects his top players and mix of ages to bring his team to the top of the Suburban council.
“Obviously, this being my fifth year as a coach and coming off a 10-11 season, we just look to improve No.1, our overall record and No. 2, get a higher seed in the Suburban council playoffs,” Loiacono said. “Some of our top players are junior pitcher Kayleigh Reome, senior pitcher McKenzie Ebert and sophomore center fielder/ first baseman/ shortstop Madison Chandler and a lot of other returners. We have a lot of junior returners along with four senior returners, so we are looking to continue the youth movement this year with them and a few underclassmen.”
After going 10-11 last season, Loiacono knows that his team has room for improvement and needs to improve to stay competitive in the Suburban council.
“We are definitely looking to score more runs,” Loiacono said. “Defensively, I think we were pretty strong last year and that’s how we won games, but in the Suburban council, with the powerhouse hitting and the amount of runs that are scored, it is definitely going to be a challenge this season. If we can score runs, we can put more wins up in the W column.”
One big change that the Suburban council has made this season is to the schedule. This year teams will only face each other once throughout the regular season, making it a 14 game regular season.
Loiacono said that his team has to be ready everyday to compete and be in good standings for the playoff run he wants to the Blue Streaks to make.
“With the schedule changes and the league changes, everybody is playing everybody once, so it is not like you get another chance at the Suburban council teams in your pod,” Loiacono said. “You have to win half the games to make the playoffs and that is a little bit challenging. You can’t have an off game, you can’t take any team lightly and
I think against the Suburban council teams, I think it is any given day. It will depend on what pitcher is on that day, what hitter is on that that day and that is going to decide who wins games.”
Loiacono said that he believes that anything can happen in this league and to win, you have to be on your A game every contest.
“Last year, we beat some very competitive teams who went deep into the playoff season and we beat those teams because we were the better team that day,” Loiacono said. “It makes for a very competitive season in the Suburban council and it is a good competition between coaches, the schools and the student athletes.”