Although the Augustana softball team have struggled with consistency this season, they are looking to make improvements for the remainder of their season.
Head softball coach Kristina Kistler said the team’s overall record of 9-19 and conference record of 2-8 has been a problem of  confidence, especially with having a lot of young players on the team.
“We’ve worked on confidence a lot because that’s a big part of our game. I think that’s really hard to do when you’re a young player,” Kistler said. “Confidence affects your hitting, your pitching and your defense.”
From the losses the team has had this season, the players have learned a lot about working together as a team and building those close relationships with one another.
Sophomore pitcher Kelcie Fredrickson said the team is getting better at recognizing each of their individual roles and are learning how to grow into their roles and stay dedicated to them. This then helps the team grow all together.
“I definitely think it’s going to be a bit of a building year,” Fredrickson said. “I hope that this season will help us build up for the next couple of years. That way we can be really competitive.”
The team’s goal is to take and win one game at a time, while focusing on playing their best. Fredrickson said  the energy and excitement needed to win each game is not as strong this year and that is something else the team needs to improve on.
“We need to come out with fire every single game and wanting to play regardless of how the first game went and how our season has been so far.” Fredrickson said.
To go along with this one game at a time mindset, Kistler emphasized how she does not like to have the team think about games in the far future, but instead focus on the next game they have.
“It’s hard to pick out certain games (that we look forward to) because, as a coach, your focus is to focus on just the next one,” Kistler said. “We don’t pump people up for one particular game because that doesn’t do any good if you lose the rest of them.”
Even though the team does not like to look ahead too far with games, they are still preparing for some tough games that are still left in their schedule. Many of these include intense conference matchups.
The team has two doubleheaders this weekend. The first is at home on Saturday against North Central College at North Central in Naperville, Ill.  The second game is a non-conference game against St. Ambrose University at home.