There’s some new faces around Jordan softball, and the Panthers who have been with the program know what it’s going to take if they want to take a step up in the Moore League.
“We’ve got to score some runs,” Jordan senior Jazmin Morales said. “We need to see some confidence in our girls and when we put runs on the board we can give them confidence. We have a couple big hitters on our team.”
Morales is one of those big bats in the Jordan lineup, and the four-year varsity player is moving from third base to shortstop this season. Morales said she has been working hard in the offseason on being better with outside pitches that she can take the other way.
“I feel like from my freshman year to now we’ve grown as a team,” Morales said. “We’ve also been working really hard on our defense since we’ve got a lot of new players and that’s made us better as a team.”
Last year, Jordan only had one team in the program so all of the young players got invaluable experience at the variety level, and now they’re ready to use those lessons to be more competitive in league. The Panthers only won two league games last year.
Morales is a team captain along with pitcher Julissa Castro and senior Gladys Garcia. Castro is a converted third baseman who will do a lot of pitching this season.
Junior Nathaly Zarazu, sophomores Katelyn Garcia and Brianna Lucio and senior Krissy Pepe are also key returners who will be towards the top of the Panthers lineup. Garcia will leadoff and Pepe will hit clean up while playing third base. Jordan coach Santiago Morales said the transfer Pepe will be a huge addition to his offense.
Sophomore Cristina Chavez and freshman Amberly Reyes should also be key newcomers in the heart of the lineup.
“For my team a good season is getting better after each game and learning from the mistakes that we made in the past game,” Morales said. “Our goals for the season is to advance as much as we can as a team.”
