ALYSSA GALL
SPORTS WRITER
While students prepared to head home for spring break, Alma College’s spring sports’ teams geared up to train, compete, and travel over break. With each spring team prepping for the start of their conference season, they took advantage of their break to put in some extra practice.
From Softball and Baseball going to Florida to Cheer and STUNT competing in Missouri, each team did something different for break.
For the Baseball team, they traveled to play in Orlando, Florida. While there, they competed in a total of 8 games against teams from Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and New York.
“It is important to go to Florida and play during spring break because we need to prepare ourselves for conference play to the best of our ability because it comes really fast. The only way to get better is to keep playing and to get outside and improve our skills,” said infielder Benjamin Skinner (’21).
The Scots finished their spring break by splitting the 8 games with 4 wins and 4 loses. Logan Huff (’20) was also announced as the MIAA Position Player of the Week for his overall performance in the RussMatt Tournament in Florida.
This tournament not only gave the team a 5-6 overall record, but practice before their upcoming conference games.
“We have an overall goal to go there and win games and be competitive. At the same time, we are going to try to work out some kinks before conference play by getting outside and playing on an actual field,” said Skinner.
Also in Florida, the Softball team dominated their competition with an 8-0 record during spring break. The team played against teams from Ohio, Indiana, Florida, and Pennsylvania.
Daniella Little (’23) also earned the MIAA Pitcher of the Week title for her performance in the tournament with only allowing 10 hits in 15 total innings and leading the team with 14 strikeouts.
Outside of Florida in St. Louis, Missouri, the STUNT team picked up two more wins against Oklahoma Baptist University and Oklahoma City University. The team continues to rack up wins as they move towards their goal of competing in the D3 STUNT Nationals in April.
Men’s Lacrosse was expected to compete in Chicago on the first day of spring break but faced a game cancellation due to weather. However, they did travel to play against Illinois Wesleyan University a week later at the end of spring break, where they fell to the Titans 24-11. Chase Hunyadi (’20) managed to pick up his 200th career point while competing against the Titans.
While some teams ventured outside of Michigan, other teams stayed local during the break to either compete or keep their skills sharp.
The Women’s Lacrosse team took a different approach this spring break by not traveling for competition.
“We have traveled my last 3 years over spring break, but this year we were able to go home or travel where we would like to. The reasoning behind having off is because the team will be traveling to Ireland and Scotland after spring term ends in May for a few exhibition games,” said goalie Allie Ray (’20).
Before going home, the team competed in a home match against Earlham College, where the scots fell short in a 9-3 loss. In that game, Ray picked up her 600th career save and senior Olivia Benoit earned her 100th career draw control.
Following the game, the team was free to go home and work out on their own over break.
“Our Coach expected us to work out for a minimum of 6 of the 8 days we were home. She asked us to find a field and do sprints and expected us to do wall ball a few times over break. She did not want us to lose the progress we have made prior to break,” said Ray.
