A year after a hot start, Antelope is just happy to be back on the softball field

It’s been 377 days since the Antelope Titans varsity softball team beat Nevada Union 8-1 to win its third straight game to open the season.

That was their last competitive game in 2020.

The season was placed on hold and eventually canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic and subsequent stay-at-home orders. Wins aside, as coach Dale Johnson and company prepare for a compressed spring 2021 season, he’s just happy that the team will be able to play the whole schedule.

“Last year was an abrupt ending,” Johnson said. “We started out fast and we had a good, strong team last year including five seniors that ended up graduating, and four of them ended up playing college ball. You go from having a really strong team with super high hopes going into the season and it’s cut short and there was no ending for those girls.”

Ahead of their season-opening game against Rio Linda on Thursday, Antelope has played two scrimmages this spring, against Franklin on Saturday and Center on Monday, with the team splitting both games. And while the scrimmages are useful, they are a far cry from how the team usually prepares.

“Typically Antelope hosts a big round-robin scrimmages tournament all day Saturday,” Johnson said. “We’ll have 16 teams at the high school all participating from 8 in the morning till 8 at night. Now you can only play one game per day against one team.

One thing that helps set Antelope apart from the pack is how the team isn’t as reliant on feeder programs that give other schools a chance to keep replenishing talent.

“What’s unique about Antelope is that we’re similar to a lot of schools in this area. We really don’t have a feeder program per se, as opposed to like Rocklin, Roosevelt, or Elk Grove. They have the softball programs that just continuously feed those programs. Tryout-wise, we typically see less than 30 kids trial for both the JV and varsity team.

“A lot of teams are senior-heavy or junior-heavy and it’s just not that way for us. We have to dig deep into our program and typically some girls who might be playing junior varsity are actually playing varsity. And that sets us apart.”

But despite that difference in roster makeup, Johnson believes the team has a chance to be competitive this season, and may be set up for future success given a couple years’ time.

“We have a good young team again and it’s only going to get better in the next couple of years,” he said. “I think we have a good opportunity to compete for our league championship this year. More than anything I think I’m just happy that they’re on the dirt. There’s some sort of sense of normalcy for them to actually be playing softball on the field.”

This story was originally published March 24, 2021 at 7:14 AM.