CWU softball prepares to play ball

Charis Jones Staff Reporter

With Spring right around the corner, CWU’s softball team has been preparing during the off-season to finally get their time to shine.

Third-baseman Myiah Seaton shared some of what the team has been doing and enduring to get ready for the upcoming season.

“We have not had a lot of resources to do the things we should be doing during practice since Ellensburg’s weather has been coasting in the 20s and 30s,” Seaton said. “We do not have access to our optimal indoor facility, however, we have been able to find ways around it and have been doing a lot of at-bats with our own pictures simulating plate appearances has been very beneficial for our offensive side.”

Among the many familiar faces that CWU brought back to the team, Seaton is one of the few on the team that will be completing her final season as a Wildcat this year. Last season, Seaton started in all 47 games and was recognized at the end of the season with Honorable Mention All-GNAC.

“Throughout the summer I wouldn’t let myself stop working because of this looming thought that this year is my last chance ever to play the game that I love,” Seaton said. “With that, though, I found myself honing a ‘just have fun’ mentality since the situation is out of my control. If I realize what I’m doing: making memories with my amazing teammates and playing my game, then all I can do is thank my lucky stars and have fun.”

CWU also brought in some fresh faces this year, including transfer student and catcher Anna Fridell who said she is really looking forward to spring ball after the preseason.

“I’m thrilled about spring season coming up,” Fridell said. “The difference about this year’s team is the adversity we faced throughout these winter months. We knew that we had to be ready for opening day despite anything that’s thrown at us, and we feel more than ready for that first pitch.”

Their work has gone far but unnoticed given their ranking in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) preseason coaches poll. CWU placed fourth in the poll with 32 points, only three points behind the Western Washington University (WWU).

“After being polled seventh out of seven teams last year, we see fourth place as an improvement, but still not accurate to our standards,” Fridell said. “We aren’t shaken by this ranking. We know that with our best bats and defense put together, we can beat anyone and being ranked fourth only gives us that extra edge to prove it to the rest of the conference. We’re excited to come out strong and send a state- ment.”

Both Seaton and Fridell described the team this year as a very tightknit group.

“Since our very first team meeting back in the fall, Coach Joe emphasized that if we want to be a championship team, we must stay together … our team has made camaraderie and togetherness a priority this year,” Fridell said.

“I think the camaraderie of the team is what’s going to bring us to the top,” Seaton said. “It’s inevitable

[when being] on a team full of 25 plus girls to have some sort of miscommunication at times, but we’ve been doing team-building exercises which I think is bringing us together as a family.”

CWU softball will appear in their first regular season games in Irvine, California participating in the Concordia Kick-Off Classic tournament. They start off their weekend of play on Friday, Feb. 3 at 2 p.m. and will be playing all weekend until Sunday.

By: Isaac Hinson

Damian Lillard has won Player of the Week and I am so alive. The Blazers legend has been averaging 42 points and seven assists in his last four games, including a 60 point nuclear explosion against the Utah Jazz. What makes Lillard’s hot stretch even more impressive is that he has been doing it incredibly efficiently, shooting 59.6% from the field and 48.9% from three in his last four, re-cementing himself as a top guard in the league.

Lillard’s recent hot streak comes right before the looming NBA trade deadline, and noise has begun to get louder around the team. Both Josh Hart and franchise staple Jusuf Nurkic have been listed as available for trade. Nurkic has been with the team for seven seasons now, and is the longest tenured Blazer, save for Lillard.

Parting ways with Nurkic would be a drastic decision. Nurkic and Lillard are best friends off the court, and with the franchise essentially answering to Lillard, he must ask the same question he asked himself before the CJ McCollum trade last season. What does he value more: His relationship with his friend, or winning a championship?

Loss 70-69

Loss 75-66

by Ashley Holum ART

Pastiche

My future did not die: it’s a mixed reception. It made its fate and schedule well enough, Its vast ideas growing with fervor. If I missed out on growing through experience It wasn’t for any lack of nurturing spirit.

Kai Kyzar (they/them)

O we mustn’t excuse what happened to us! He was sound of mind and present and every excuse. He lies so sweetly with venomous speech! I fight and object and resist from him. And yet the night won’t end and the past can’t change.

I am not me, I am not even them, Though they are a different and changed being –It might be better if it were different, and it was my choice. But it is done, and my body forever altered with scars, And I quietly sob and do not speak of it.

Gallery One

D and M Coffee

Winegars

Young T and Tea

Jerrols

Blue Rock

The Tav

Red Pickle

Julep

Utopia

Kiku Chan

The Pearl

Palace Cafe

Cornerstone

The Mule

Lunchbox Cafe

ABC Donuts

Evolve

Wings Central

The Horseshoe

Dark Moon

Early Bird

The Porch

Old Skools