Mountain Lions continue to improve, strive to break .500

At the halfway point of the season, it can be tempting for athletes to sit back and ride out the rest of year. This is not the case for the Mountain Lion softball team, however, which is eyeing the playoffs and is certainly not resting on its laurels. Instead, they are focusing on both their long and short-term goals for the rest of the season.

To accomplish their season goals, each player writes down goals for every game. The team as a whole reads these goals, and keeps them on their person during the game.

Aside from setting goals, each player also has her own personal ritual to prepare for games.

Outfielder Rheana Trujillo, a freshman studying sports conditioning and training, said, “I spend a couple of hours visualizing. I think positive.”

Her goals are, “Be the best I can be, get ahead in the count, be selective and swing hard.”

Korey Kulpins, a freshman in health services, said, “Pretty much I worry about everything under my control.” As a pitcher, her goals are, “Get ahead in the count, play the best I can and control the things I can control.”

Before the game last weekend, Trujillo said, “This week is the deciding factor. We’re out to get four this weekend.”

The Mountain Lions came into their most recent series, a four-game tilt against Black Hills State University (BHSU), with a record of 11-15, placing them 10th in league standings.

With a clean sweep of BHSU, the team now has a 15-15 record and has moved themselves one step closer to the postseason.

With two games on Friday and two games on Saturday, the later games could have taken their toll on the Lions. The UCCS ladies were strong, though. The first game on Friday finished 10-2 in the fifth inning, as the mercy rule – where the game is called when one team is ahead by at least eight runs after five innings –was invoked.

The second game was more tense. BHSU took the lead in the first inning, and held it until the fifth inning. A solid hit with bases loaded by UCCS, however, brought the game to a close with the Mountain Lions coming out on top.

The team now looks forward to the rest of the season. Kulpins said, “I’m looking forward to finishing strong and having fun.”