For four Doane athletic teams, spring break means stepping off campus and stepping into competition.
But with destinations in Florida, California and South Carolina, the baseball, softball and men’s and women’s golf teams don’t have much to complain about.
As the softball team prepares to leave for the SunWest Tournament in Orange, California, senior infielder Jennifer Montoya said that the team was ready to play.
“All of the team is really excited,” she said. “But we think we’ll do pretty well in the games and have a lot of fun. We’re taking all 22 of us on the trip – the whole team goes and it’s a good time.”
Head softball coach Barry Mosely said that the women would face some tough competition over break.
“We’ll play six games while we’re in Orange (California),” he said. “Two of those teams are in the top ten of the NAIA top 25 (rankings). We went to California last year, but we’ll do a lot better this year.”
Though the baseball team has never competed in Florida before, Coach Jeremy Jorgensen said that the men have a good chance of winning the Webber International University Invitational.
“I try to move around every year (to new tournaments), just to show the guys different parts of the country and not just keep going back to the same place,” he said. “We have a great group of guys going this year and we should play well.”
With eight games scheduled against Webber International, Warner, Ave Maria, St. Leo and Franciscan Universities, Jorgensen said that the team would get a lot of experience.
“We’ve got around thirty guys going down there, which is a few more than we usually take to a regular varsity competition,” he said. “This way we get a few more of the younger guys out there with us.”
Both the men’s and women’s golf teams are also hoping to gain some experience playing at the Barefoot Golf Resort in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
Men’s coach Myron Parsley said that it was hard to tell how the team would do, since it had never played the courses before.
“We (the men’s and the women’s teams) will be playing on four top-level golf courses there (at the Barefoot Resort),” he said. “The courses were designed by (famous golfers) Greg Norman, Tom Fazio, Pete Dye, and Davis Love III, so we’ll be using the experience to get some golf in and hopefully enjoy some warmer weather.”
But these trips aren’t all just about the competition.
Mosely said that the softball team had social time planned on its trip.
“We’ll definitely go to the ocean, the girls were very set on that,” he said. “And last year some of the team went to Universal Studios, so we’ll probably do that again, before flying back on Thursday (March 18) so the girls have some time to go home over break, too.”
Even though they’ll be on the opposite side of the country, the baseball team has similar plans.
Jorgensen said that the team probably wouldn’t go to Disney World or Universal Studios unless families took members, but it still had a lot of plans as a group.
“As a team, we usually try to catch a spring training game, since there are a lot of Major League teams in the area,” he said. “Then we’ll probably head to the beach after our last game – against Franciscan University on the (March) 21, so we’ll hit the beach and then fly back that night.”
Parsley said that the golf teams didn’t really have specific plans outside of the tournament.
“Well likely play some other courses in the area,” he said. “There are also several nice restaurants and the beach is nearby, so I’m sure we’ll find things to do.”
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