In a sport where mistakes are easily made and scoring is less frequent, the process of mentally winning games becomes much more complex. Softball, known as “a game of failure,” is a mentally taxing sport. Since players miss the ball more often than they hit it, they must learn how to deal with things not always going their way. As a result, mental strength and discipline are essential to overcome the unpredictability and streakiness of the game. While success often builds upon itself, failures can also accumulate exponentially.

This dynamic is captured by Assistant Coach Jeramy Albert, who says that sometimes “you feel like you’re doing the process right but the ball’s just not dropping for you.” Despite these challenges, the Archbishop Mitty Women’s Softball team has learned to conquer these mental hardships, which drove them to a near-undefeated start to their season.

The team certainly faced adversity. First, the weather was a big deterrent early on. The frequent periods of rain prevented the team from consistently practicing at Mitty. Instead, they had to travel, bouncing back and forth between Mitty and Mission College. Additionally, they had to deal with fatigue on the back ends of tournaments, which led to their loss against Mills, a team that on paper was less talented than Mitty. To overcome adversities such as weather or fatigue, the softball team has rituals and practices that help them center and focus themselves on the sport and each other.

One such practice that is specific to the AMHS team is “everydays,” in which the infielders are working on ground balls and the outfielders are working on fly balls. According to Coach Albert, this drill, which happens in the beginning of every practice and before every game, allows the players to relax and “focus on the task at hand.” Doing “everydays” allows the players to think less about the school day and more about performing the best they can.

The Mitty Softball team also has some pre-game rituals that aids them in centering themselves on each other and on winning. To “lock in” the players take ten to fifteen minutes to get in a circle and put eye-black on each other. While the team does this, Captain Kyleigh Mace and other upperclassmen say their words of encouragement to hype the team up. This sacred tradition that has set the team up for numerous championship titles enhances the togetherness of the group. Then, they have a tradition where each player will take a sip of a Monster drink, and then they crush and smash the Monster can. These rituals hype the team up and get them in the right headspace to win the game.

Oftentimes, athletes in any sport can be heavily influenced by the noise, whether it be from social media, inner social circles, or even other athletes. As such, the team’s philosophy is to control the controllables and not be influenced too much by outside distractions or adversity, such as playing against a club teammate or media rankings. This further highlights the team’s emphasis on overcoming adversity through solely focusing on doing the best they can.

As of late-April, the AMHS Women’s Softball team was 10-5-1, its season highlighted by a recent 7-2 win against College Park. While the team dropped a recent game against Saint Francis, the team looks to rebuild their success through overcoming hardship, centering themselves on the game and on each other, and, of course, smashing Monster cans.