A year without yellow softballs and the sounds of dugout chants has left us without another sport for the time being because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Although softball is on hold for now, the team and coach Crissy Buck-Ziegler are still preparing and keeping ready for the hopeful return of their sport. “October 16 is what our projected return date could be if the county stays according to plan.”

“We have individual academic meetings that I have set up with each one of them… we’ll do check ins giving us an opportunity to kind of just see how they’re doing and how they’re doing in school, because ultimately, if they’re doing well in school, they’re doing well mentally in a lot of respects,” Buck-Ziegler said.

“I think for all of us. It’s a check in that we know that someone is out there and they care about us and for me it’s always been about our academics comes first. One thing I was really proud about last semester was we had the second highest GPA of the athletic department,” stated Buck -Ziegler.

The team will get to take the field again when they resume with a familiar face.

“Cydney Curran is coming back and she’s actually doing her teaching credential. So it was a kind of a win win for both of us, the ability for her to come back and she’s going through the CSU Bakersfield teaching credential here,” said Buck-Ziegler.

“Whether it be you know bodyweight stuff that they can do at home, since a lot of the gyms are still closed, many of them are staying in, you know, I think a lot of them have facilities, maybe anything, even in their backyard, but they’re able to hit or they’re going to facilities to try and stay up to speed and do what they need to do,” said Buck-Ziegler.

The team is staying ready and may finally be able to practice again, “We’re hoping to get them back on campus here on the 16th, and we have some kids and how I  put it out to the kids is if they feel comfortable to come back on October 16,”

“This is all voluntary, they’re able to come back on the 16th will probably have a 95% of our team come back at that time,” said Buck-Ziegler.