Spring is on its way, and the Lady Cavaliers are getting ready for the 2020 girls’ softball season. Although spring is still some time away, the Lady Cavalier softball team wants to be ready for anything that is thrown at them so that they can earn their seventh district championship in a row.

Ever since Jan. 21, these Lady Cavaliers have been practicing every day after school from 2:45 p.m to 5 p.m. As of right now, they have been focusing on two things so far: conditioning to whip them back into shape, and the fundamentals of softball, like catching, throwing, fielding, and hitting.

This season, Coach De La Vega expects her team to compete as best as they can. Unlike past years, where they have been fortunately more talented than their competition, this year is going to be a little more challenging for these girls. This year’s team looks to bring out the raw talent from their newest additions, given that such a large number of players graduated last year. It will be especially challenging due to the fact that the Lady Cavaliers have been added to a new district, resulting in a broader and more difficult pool of challengers to face.

“We just want to practice, play hard and go as far as we possibly can this season,” Captain Angelina Bonilla said.

For the past four years, this team has been extremely successful, winning game after game with ease. This was all thanks to the large amount of talent this team was lucky enough to acquire. However, all students must graduate eventually. With the devastating loss of six seniors, who have been a part of the varsity team since they were freshmen, Coach De la Vega wants to focus more on coaching so she can fill those lost players’ positions.

One of the few seniors left is Captain Sidney Pell. She was inspired to join the Lady Cavaliers softball team when she met Coach De la Vega the summer before her freshman year. She suggested that she should come and play for the team at Gables, and she has been playing with them ever since.

Pell is very excited to be one of this year’s team captains and, although there are many pressures that come along with it, like making sure the team knows their responsibilities, she has been having a blast. Her main goal for the team this year is to try and win the district title and anything beyond that would be spectacular. Pell does have some personal goals, such as making First Team All-Dade, which is when the county selects the top players of the year for recognition.

“I am very excited for this season. It is going to be very fun and we will definitely have a new dynamic since there are a lot of new girls this season,” Captain Sidney Pell said.

Until their season officially starts, the Lady Cavaliers are determined to build up their abilities and work on playing coherently. Before their first official game of the season, they plan on playing a preseason game against the Westminster Warriors on Feb. 12, where they look to start their season off on a high note with a crowd of Cavaliers cheering them on and supporting them. Until then, be sure to wish the Lady Cavalier Softball team luck on what is sure to be an exciting season.