McCurdy softball coach Joseph Valdez knew early on this season would be a challenge.
With just three seniors and a roster populated primarily with freshmen and sophomores, the Lady Bobcats have been simply trying to gain the experience needed to be competitive.
“We’re struggling, trying to get our chemistry,” Valdez said. “We’ve been playing a lot of tournaments and facing bigger schools. It’s been a challenge for my girls. We love the challenge. We love the competition. It gives us a chance to see a little better what we have and what we need to work on.”
What Valdez has learned so far, is that he has a gritty squad that’s willing to get after it no matter what the scoreboard reads.
“We’re taking some bumps and bruises,” he admits. “But my girls are willing. They’re not going to back down. That’s one thing I love about these girls, (Class) 2A or 5A, we’re going to play our hearts out and play to the best of our ability.”
McCurdy has been logging some serious bus time, too, playing in tournaments across Northern New Mexico, then traveling as far south as the Mesilla Valley to see teams they don’t normally face.
“We get to see some things that we don’t often get to see a whole lot of with the other smaller schools, which is a good thing,” Valdez said.
It’s been tough battling the bigger schools, said senior left fielder Amanda Tafoya, but it builds character as the team bonds together.
“With the support of our teammates, we don’t get down on each other against these big schools,” she said. “It’s hard, but if one of us is not doing our best, we can rely on each other and uplift each other. That’s the biggest key to this team is we can help each other and uplift each other.”
McCurdy is building a strong pitching staff that, like the rest of the team, is a work in progress.
Sophomore Arianna Maestas heads it up, but freshman Gabriella Velasquez is making a strong push, while eighth grader Joslyn Silva is slowly being worked into the rotation.
“My freshman, she’s a heck of a pitcher, she’s building up strong,” Valdez said. “She’s got some good pitches. I can’t wait to see her in the next few years. She’s going to be tough.”
And, of course, the seniors are proving to be strong leaders for the squad, with all three serving as captains: Tafoya, corner infielder Mariana Arambula and catcher Maria Chavez-Quezada.
“I see my role as a leader for these girls to show them what it going to be like and what they need to be like,” Chavez-Quezada said.
The potential is there for the team to get better, Arambula said, it’s just a matter of the pieces sliding into the right spots.
“We just want to have a better season than we’ve had the past years and we need to be more confident and build off what we had last year and to start winning games,” she said.
That leaves the team feeling confident looking to the future.