With a 6-2 record so far this season and a 4-1 district record, players on this year’s Central High School softball team and their coach Nicholas Golden attribute their strong start to the hard work they put in prior to this season.
“We put in a lot of work,” Golden said. “We knew last year coming into this year…we had the talent to have a special team.”
Golden also credits the team’s chemistry to their successful start.
“The strongest part of our team is our chemistry, they get along, they encourage each other…they are all working towards the same goal,” he said.
Senior Ryian Stull agrees with Coach Golden, adding this year’s team is the best softball team she has played on in her four years at Central.
“Everybody puts in the same amount of work and everybody cares,” Stull said. " It’s never been like that before.”
Stull said the team’s work ethic has benefited the play on the field.
“Last year, we were making 10 to 12 errors a game…now we make maybe one (error a game),” she said.
Fellow senior teammate Brittney Amey, who plays shortstop for the Jaguars, also credits the amount of hard work everyone has put in the offseason and at practice.
“You put in a lot of work and it pays off,” Amey said.
Amey believes the team’s early season success will not affect the team’s mentality throughout the rest of the season.
“I don’t think we will let it go to our heads,” she said. “We just go (into each game) and play the best we can.”
The team’s starting catcher Courtney Arnaud, also a senior, believes a district title is within reach.
“If we keep working hard, if we hit the ball really good and play good solid defense, then I think we will have a good shot,” Arnaud said.
The team is currently on pace to do so, by already defeating last year’s district winners Ponce de Leon High School on Feb. 26. On Thursday, the Lady Jaguars are looking to increase their winning streak to four games with a win at Paxton School, which defeated Central on last month.
“They beat us 11-10, so we have a little bit of unfinished business,” Golden said.
Regardless of how this season plays out, Stull, Amey and Arnaud said they are looking forward to playing college softball together at Wallace Community College in Dothan, Ala.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Softball: Central has district title in sight with 6-2 start