Published 2008-04-29T00:00:00Z”/>

Ryan Van Fleet

Whether moving to a new city, trying a different brand of toothpaste or losing a bevy of talented softball players to graduation, change is always scary.

With five of the most dominant softball players graduating, many may be fearful of the future.

But player turnover is an inescapable part of collegiate sports, and change can sometimes be a catalyst for improvement. In this case, there’s room for it.

“Honestly, we need to improve our offensive game,” head coach Jamie Brown said. “Our batting average actually went down this season, so we want to start getting better on offense.”

At first thought, the loss of the seniors should make things worse.

Chelsea Lundberg alone accounted for a large part of strong offense. One of the best softball players in school history, she is in the school’s top 10 all-time list in nine categories – including season batting average, hits, home runs, RBIs and on-base percentage.

“The seniors were big pieces of this team, and they’ll be missed. But we have to move on and try to get better,” Brown said. “We can’t replace Chelsea Lundberg, but we can try.”

No kidding. To make up for her loss the Wildcats are going to have to be like a strip-mine reclamation crew – fill in an enormous hole. But challenge is the greatest motivation, at least according to my inspirational desk calendar.

To view the Wildcats’ prowess as a matter of a few players ignores the depth of remaining talent.

I’m sure the experience of the new team captain, Gwen Cox, will rub off on younger players, bolstering their natural skills.

Freshmen pitchers Krystal Shaw and Lauren Walker have pitched beyond their age all season, and should only improve with time.

Another freshman, Kaitlyn Azevedo, has also shown flashes of brilliance. Once given the opportunity – no – necessity to compensate for the vacancies, anybody on the team could emerge as the next star.

Add into the mix of change and turnover the addition of two assistant coaches, and the team could go in any direction. Graduating senior Allison Smith is staying on as an assistant coach, and former UCLA player Jodie Lagaspi will have a “huge” effect on the team as an assistant, Brown said.

The ‘Cats have their work cut out for them if they want to continue the steady improvement in the program nurtured by Brown in her two seasons. Despite all the talent leaving the team, the door is open for a new crop of players to shine.

I’m confident they will.

Ryan can be reached at<a href= “mailto:[email protected]”>[email protected]</a>