The Manitowoc Lincoln girls’ softball team is scheduled to open the 2025 season in Fond Du Lac on Thursday afternoon against the Cardinals.
The Ships won just four games a year ago in a tough FRCC, won by Ashwaubenon who went undefeated in league.
The Ships have yet to practice outdoors as of Wednesday, something Head Coach Todd Meyer tells SeehaferNews.com that puts them a bit behind the proverbial eight ball right out of the gate.
“It’s always difficult when you try to have tryouts, get the team together and you can’t even get outside to practice,” she explained. “Even practice in forty-degree weather doesn’t give you a full feel for who you are and generally they are not great practices.”
Three seniors graduated last year and there are only two on this year’s squad in catcher Maddie Johnson and first baseman Rayna Schuh.
Meyer says he’ll be leaning on them early on, something Johnson says she’s prepared for.
“We just want to make sure that everyone is getting better and feeling included,” she noted “We want to make them (the underclassmen) that they belong. We’re here to set a good example and make sure we improve every day.”
Schuh is recovering from a torn labrum in her shoulder but says she’s willing to chip in wherever she can.
“It’s a young group of girls. It’s imperative that everyone gets along both on and off the field,” Schuh said. “I believe that how you get along off the field translates into how you play the game.”
Sophomore Chloe Schroeder is expected to get plenty of time at second base.
She says the Ships have the work ethic to continually improve.
“If we communicate together on the field, that will lead to better play overall,” she said. “We just want to give it our best every day, and if we do that, improvement will come and we will win our share of games.”
Manitowoc Lincoln is a young team that will certainly take their lumps at times but Meyer emphasizes that getting better every day is their number one goal.
“Last year, we had way too many empty at bats, failing to put the ball in play with runners on base, leading us to scoring fewer runs,” the skipper said. “I don’t think you can stack up wins and losses from season to season to determine how good you are. We want to see individual improvement and that will determine how successful players are and how we get better as a team.”
The first pitch at Fond Du Lac is scheduled for 5:00 p.m.
