(Oakland, IA) – Softball season is back in the state of Iowa as the Riverside Bulldogs have already knocked quite a few games out of the way. With such a young program, Head Coach Lacie Patterson and Assistant Coach Darrell Frain have had to rely on their juniors Elly Henderson, Ayla Richardson, and Markely Yanes to be leaders this season. They’ve already stepped up to the plate with their leadership to start the season.
Riverside has a very young squad this season with just three junior upperclassmen. The Bulldogs have four eighth graders, eight freshmen, and three sophomores on what may be one of the youngest teams in the Western Iowa Conference. With a young team comes just a few inconsistent errors along the way. It only takes a few more reps to become consistent and these girls will become a dominant force on the field.
Fielder’s choice is an important element to softball with so many decisions to make on the field. Riverside’s key focus this week is to find the best option in every situation. You can only practice so much to perfect those situations, but it all comes down to what happens on the ballfield.
The Bulldogs have had a full slate of games this week and have one tonight against AHSTW for their first home game of the season. Last season, Riverside was able to break the Lady Vikes’ winning streak by beating them 5-4, and look to take that energy from last season and pump it into tonight’s competition. Coach Patterson has a lot of decisions to make tonight and this weekend on where to place some top-caliber players on the field.
Riverside hosts AHSTW tonight with the game starting at 7:15 p.m. KSOM 96.5 and Western Iowa Today TV will have the broadcast of the game for you which starts at 7:00 p.m.
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