With spring sports beginning, students and staff have set their goals high and are ready to start off with big wins.
After winning districts last year, the baseball team has had its eyes on success.
“I think we have a winning tradition,” said senior Adham Nabhan. “We’ve had a lot of success in the past and great coaches and the baseball team has always been very strong at West Springfield so it’s our job to keep that winning tradition going… We lost a lot of seniors but I think the young guys will step up.”
It can always take a little while to shake off the rust at the beginning of a sport season, but the softball girls are hoping they will be able to pick up from where they left off last year. They ended their 2014 season with stronger hits then they had in March.
“When we all come together as a team and try hard I feel like every game’s a good game,” said sophomore Ryann Crennan. “At the end of last year we really started to pick [it] up and get it together and be really good, so hopefully we start where we left off.”
Once again the boys’ and girls’ tennis teams didn’t know who their coaches would be until recently. The boys’ team’s returning coach is Craig Hamilton, and the girls’ team will be coached by Tony Adams. Adams is a private coach who played tennis in the military tennis circuit. With their new mentors’ help, the teams are ready to give the season all that they’ve got.
“I definitely think we’ll do better than last year… because I know we have a lot more people trying out,” said sophomore Hannah Yang.
Girls’ soccer has high goals for their season too. Their coach, John Alukonis, believes they will have a strong team.
“We are returning a very talented group of varsity players,” said Alukonis. “We have many players from our JV teams of the past few years who are prepared to contribute to the varsity team and raise the level of competition for playing time, along with a skilled and athletic freshman class.”
Winning won’t come easily, but our teams are ready and willing to put in the extra effort. The boys’ lacrosse team has been doing workouts for months to prepare for their spring season.
“I think we have the potential to be a good team,” said sophomore Clark Akers. “We have the talent and the will to win.”