With its sectional game only a few days away, the CHS softball team is ready for the tournament to begin and already has its eyes set on the prize. According to Darby Roberts, softball player and sophomore, the team’s ultimate goal is to win the State championship.

Last year, the team fell just short of a victory in its Sectional, and after two wins against Westfield and Hamilton Southeastern, they lost in the Sectional Championship against Noblesville. But this year’s players said that they are ready to win it all.

Roberts said, “We haven’t peaked yet, so we’re building up to hopefully peaking more towards (Sectional). Our Sectional is pretty good, some of the better teams that you see go far in the tournament every year don’t have a great Sectional. For us, if we can make it through the Sectionals, we almost make it to Semi-State. All of the other teams aren’t as great coming out of Sectionals, but our Sectional is pretty difficult. But, I think we have a pretty good shot this year.”

According to Head Coach Emily Good, this year’s team is strong but the tournament is different than the regular season, making it difficult to determine how the team will perform once playoffs begin. 

Good said via email, “After coaching at CHS for 13 seasons, I can tell you that the tournament is always full of surprises. Teams that are favored get beat, injuries happen, etc. We work to keep our players focused on our team strengths, keep them excited about the opportunity to play, and remind them to not look past the next game. This time of the year provides so many opportunities for distraction: exams, graduation, and summer break. It’s often the teams that get hot prior to the tournament and maintain focus that tend to go further.”

According to Celene Funke, softball player and senior, the team has been playing well this season, and has the potential to play very well in the tournament. According to Funke, the team’s biggest strength this season is in their hitting and one of the team’s biggest points for concern has been in fielding.

Roberts said the biggest resource that the team has is its regular season games and the team often has used those games to strengthen its weaknesses throughout the season.

“We have a lot of games, so we make sure that we use instances in games to learn from them, because we don’t have a lot of practices, so we don’t have a lot of time to sit down and work on things. So we have to use our games as practices. Coach Good always says the regular season matters, but it also doesn’t matter because the tournament is the most important. So these are all practice games warming up for the tournament, so just making sure that we use every opportunity to teach from different things.”

Good said that she is not worried about the team’s regular season record, and that she often stresses to the players that the regular season is not an indicator of how the team will play in the tournament, but rather an opportunity for them to assess their skills.

“Wins and losses mean very little when you get into post-season. Our kids know and discuss this regularly. We have to be at our best to beat some very competitive teams to advance. Our challenging schedule should allow us to feel prepared and confident as we get into the tournament,” Good said.

With the team continuing to improve and grow as the season progresses, Roberts said that it is even more motivated to win. According to Roberts, the team is not only motivated by the glory that comes with a State Championship, but it want to win for their seniors.

Roberts said, “Over the years, getting to know the seniors, and knowing that this is this is their last run, and every game could be their last game playing for Carmel, I think that puts a lot of pressure on the underclassmen. Like, after we lost to Noblesville last year, it was extremely heartbreaking to see our seniors faces because they knew it was the end.”

Funke said while she would love to win State in her final year on the team, she wants more than anything for her team members to experience a good playoff run.

Funke said, “I play soccer too, and being a runner-up for State, it was an incredible run, so what I want most is I want these girls to experience that run, and obviously I would hope to finish it with a State Championship, but I think it’s every high school athlete’s dream to win State.”