Solid season so far for Hematites softball
ISHPEMING — The Hematites softball team has had their ups and downs, but they’re still in a good spot at the midway point of the season.
Ishpeming is currently 7–10 on the season, which is very good given that they have only two seniors and one junior on the team. First–year head coach Ben McGuire says he likes where his team is at right now.
“The kids are doing great. They’re working really hard. We’re making a lot of improvements. The pitching has been solid, which I knew it would be. The defense is coming along good. We only had three errors in the last four games total. Hitting–wise, we struggled at the beginning with a lot of strikeouts. But our freshman are really starting to hit and that’s really picking it up because we play so many freshman so that’s really up us out a lot,” said McGuire.
Ishpeming has eight freshman on the team, with most of them playing a lot and getting valuable experience. But to finish the season strong, McGuire says the team’s confidence level needs to continue to increase.
“The freshman are really talented and they have the skills. It’s a matter of being confident when they go to the plate or being confident in the field, and they’ve been getting better and better at that and we’ve been improving. I know our pitching is going to be great so I’m not worried about that. It’s just the confidence thing. I’m very confident that we’re going to be doing well at the end,” McGuire said.
The Hematites will be back in action Saturday for a tournament in Kingsford.