Wrangler Softball Opens 2024 Season

ARTICLE BY MICHAEL BAUER: ODESSA AMERICAN

Coming off three national tournament appearances, the Odessa College softball team enters the 2024 season with the same expectations as any other year.

Even with a change in command.

Going into 2024, the team is under the direction of first-year head coach Doug Eastman who is no stranger to the JUCO game.

Eastman previously spent time at Yavapai College (Ariz.) from 2014-22 where he compiled 333 wins.

Eastman replaces Jeff Jackson who took the head coaching job at the NCAA Division I level at Stephen F. Austin.

"I'm very excited," Eastman said. "I came from a very successful program and I know that Odessa College has been very successful for quite some time. it was very intriguing for me to take this position. I'm looking forward to this."

He expects success with the Lady Wranglers and so does the NJCAA as Odessa College enters this season ranked No. 4 in the national poll.

"The athletes are very hungry," Eastman said. "There are a lot of athletes here who can play division one level that didn't get the opportunity. They want to try and win a national championship and that's very rare to do if you go to a four-year school, right away. This gives the players a chance to get accolades and still play at a high level. When they leave this program, they'll be able to play at the next level."

The Lady Wranglers are coming off a 54-6 overall record from last year which ended with a third-place finish at the NJCAA tournament in Alabama.

It was the team's second consecutive third-place finish.

However, this year's squad will feature a lot of new faces on the field.

"It's going to be a challenge because it's a predominantly freshman team," Eastman said. "Even the returning players that we have, we have six sophomores that are back that didn't get a whole lot of playing time last year. it's a very young team but we have a lot of hungry players that I think are going to do very well. For me, that's more intriguing to have an unknown commodity and see what I can do with it."

With that said, Eastman is excited by what he's seen from this year's group of players.

"We have Reganied Franka from the Netherlands and she's a fantastic player," Eastman said. "Our catcher (Neve Adams) from Australia is fantastic and very vocal. She can swing a bat very well. Then, our pitching staff is going to be young and have to go out and prove themselves. But we've been very lucky. We picked up Skyleyn Hammiel (from Canada). We just got her last week. There are some standout players here."

One of the strengths for this year's team should be hitting.

"I think we're going to be a power hitting team," Eastman said. "I think we're going to hit the ball out of the ball park. Hopefully, that takes the pressure off our pitching staff a little bit if we can score early."

The Lady Wranglers will begin their season with a trip to Waco for the Battle on the Bosque tournament.

Odessa College will face Chipola College at 10 a.m. Friday at Bosque River Ballpark before following it up with a 3 p.m. game later that day against San Jacinto College-South.

Their schedule will continue to be challenging when they face a doubleheader against No.6-ranked McLennan Community College starting at 3 p.m. Saturday.

The team will finish the weekend against Trinity Valley Community College at 3 p.m. Sunday.

"We're going to take it one game at a time," Eastman said. "We're going to our first tournament in McLennan and McLennan is ranked sixth and we're fourth right now so we're going to see some good competition right off the bat. We play Chipola from Florida and San Jacinto which is also a quality team. is it imperative that we win every single game? No, that's not what I'm looking for. I'm looking for the team to go out and have a lot of confidence and play hard."

Florida Southwestern State College enters the season ranked No. 1, followed by Northwest Florida State College at No. 2 and Wallace State Community College-Hanceville at No. 3.