Last season’s Chico State softball team sported an overall record of 24-24, going 14-6 at home and 8-10 on the road.

But that doesn’t tell the whole story.

That team lost 11 seniors and added eight freshmen. Most of those freshmen started.

“We were very young, but we got one win out of the postseason,” said head coach Angel Shamblin. “It was a great accomplishment for us.”

This season, the team will look for a complete turnaround. Only eight new players made the team to fill out its 20-woman roster, making this season’s team more experienced.

“We are looking to build on every aspect of the program from last year,” Shamblin said.

Experience will be the key for this year’s team.

“Alex Molina was a junior last year, but she was a transfer so it was her first year in our conference,” Shamblin said.”I think having that experience under our belt will help us out a lot.”

Molina, a senior starting pitcher, will look to build upon a solid first year in which she went 13-8 with an ERA of 2.54.

“Last season I started pretty strong, but toward the end I got into some bad habits,” Molina said.

Molina will look to use her experience as a senior to end those habits.

“Personally, I want to get more strikeouts and have a bigger part in our defense,” she said.

This year, Shamblin said the Wildcats will rely on how well the team is crafted and balanced.

“We are pretty well-balanced as a team,” Shamblin said. “We have some people that can hit, some people that are fast. Pitchers are throwing really well and our roster is deep.”

Shamblin said the key to a successful season is taking a one-day-at-a-time approach.

“We are staying in the present moment,” Shamblin said. “We don’t focus on future outcomes. It’s about what we need to do today to get that one percent better than we were yesterday.”

The Chico State Wildcats softball team kick off the season Feb. 1 for the Best of the West tournament in Turlock. However, the team will have to wait until Feb. 21 for their first home game.

Angelo Boscacci can be reached at [email protected] or @theorion_sports on Twitter.