Coming into the season in the spring of 2020, the Sedona Red Rock High School softball team knew that they were in the early stages of a building project. The SRRHS squad endured some rough games but had some positive moments as well, such as a 19-4 win over Glendale Prep, the Scorpions first win in nearly two years. Then things came to a premature end.
The COVID-19 pandemic led to the season being postponed and eventually canceled only four games in. With that, the season that the young Scorpions were hoping to use to get better, for all intents and purposes, never got off of the ground.
“We all wish that softball season could have continued because we wanted to use this season to get better,” Sedona coach Bri Young said. “But we have to start from scratch next year. The good thing is we don’t have any seniors.”
Without any seniors this year, everyone that was on the Scorpions roster in the brief 2020 season is set to return for the spring of 2021.
Many of the girls on the team were in coach Bob Young’s PE class, which was conducted online during the shutdown. The team continued to work on the same exercises that he had them doing. They are also doing drills more specific to softball.
“I’ve been trying to work out daily, working on my speed and strength,” said shortstop Annabelle Cook, who will return as a sophomore next season. “I go out every day or two and hit, taking batting practice in the cage. And I go out and field with my dad.”
Returning pitcher Bella Horton, who will be a senior next year, added that she has a hitting net at home, which she tries to use twice a week. She uses the same net for pitching practice as well, and tries to play catch with family members as often as possible.
Returning sophomore Annalee Dearden, meanwhile, goes to Posse Grounds Park to hone her skills with her father. She works on her pitching while throwing from the pitcher’s mound to her father. Dearden is also learning the catching position from her dad, who was a catcher at Simpson College in Iowa. In addition to her work at the battery positions, Dearden also fields grounders at third base and practices making throws to the different bases.
Brief as it was, Dearden also saw positives that came from the 2020 season.
“I think that we got to know each other and build a friendship and a team,” she said. “We won a game. We did end up winning more but we were 1-0 in league. Next year it will be really nice to have a full season, we’ll know each other and we’ll have seniors on the team. I also know there are a lot of eighth graders coming up to be freshmen who will play.”
Fortunately, it won’t just be the Scorpions that missed most of the season, but all of their opponents for 2021. But while having 100% of the roster set to return is an advantage, a young team losing a year of development will make the hill that they have to climb next season steeper.
“I definitely think it’s a setback — we were really planning on building the team this year so we can come back stronger next year,” Horton said. “So that’s kind of a bummer. We’ll just have to work harder whenever we get back.”
