GREEN RIVER — A youth movement is defining the early outlook for the Green River High School softball team, as head coach Mark Hyde prepares a largely inexperienced roster for the start of the season.
After graduating seven seniors a year ago, the Lady Wolves enter the spring with just one senior on the roster, placing an immediate emphasis on development and steady improvement.
“We lost seven seniors last year and only have one senior this year,” Hyde said. “We are a young team, but it is a group of young ladies who want to learn and practice with the intention of getting better.”
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Despite the inexperience, Hyde said the early returns have been encouraging.
“They are a fun group to coach and just in a week of practice have made big strides in improvement,” he said.
Green River has focused heavily on offense during the preseason, recognizing the level of competition across the state.
“We have really focused on the offensive side of the ball,” Hyde said. “With the teams around the state hitting like they do we know that we need to improve offensively and have focused on that.”
At the same time, the Lady Wolves are working to clean up defensive execution, particularly in limiting preventable mistakes.
“Defensively we are working on eliminating extra throws that allow for runners to take extra bases,” Hyde said. “That can really hurt us and need to limit those extra bases other teams can take.”
Preparation has also centered on creating game-like situations in practice, rather than separating conditioning from skill work.
“We try to make conditioning and practice be as much game preparation as possible,” Hyde said. “We don’t like to condition just to condition, but make it game situations so that while we condition we are still improving our softball IQ.”
With a young roster still gaining experience, Hyde said minimizing mistakes will be critical early in the schedule.
“Early in the schedule we just need to limit mistakes,” he said. “I mentioned we are pretty young this year and are replacing 7 starters from last year. We need to limit mistakes and continue to improve our knowledge of the game.”
As the season begins, Hyde’s expectations are rooted in growth and competitiveness.
“I am hoping to see improvement in every game and gameplay that puts us in a position to win,” he said. “I have seen what our players can do in practice and am excited to see what they can do in games going forward.”
With a roster focused on learning and a coaching staff emphasizing steady progress, Green River enters the season looking to build momentum one game at a time.
