Albany State looking for six freshmen to come up big again

ALBANY — It has been a special year for the Albany State softball team, with the SIAC championship coming back to Albany for the first time in five years.

It was particularly special for six members of the team who, so far, only know success.

Mikiyah Harris, Jordynne Baranello, Kendyl Davis, Lauren Lowery, Kiki Evans and Caitlin Gooch are all freshmen on the team but have played beyond their years and have been key contributors to the team’s success.

Their contributions helped the Golden Rams earn a spot in the NCAA Division II Tournament. Play in the South I Regional begins Thursday in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Lowery held her own on the mound during the conference title game and earned a spot on the all-conference team. The rest have all had their numbers called during crucial stretches throughout the season, and each one delivered timely hits.

Baranello said the leadership from the upperclassmen early on made a learning curve obsolete.

“I think the seniors and the upperclassmen did a great job of bring us in and helping us through the process and treating us all as one,” Baranello said. “They didn’t look at us like freshmen, it was like everyone is the same.”

Davis agreed and added that expectations were the same for everyone from top to bottom.

“They held everybody accountable and to the same standard,” Davis said. “We always said on the field there’s no freshmen and there’s really no classes at all. So whether you make the out or not or whether you make the play, it doesn’t matter what year you are, you’re expected to as a part of the team.”

With the help of the upperclassmen and the coaching staff, they were able to get their day-to-day routine down and make the transition a smooth one.

“The game speed, playing back-to-back and doubleheaders was the biggest adjustment,” Gooch said.

The Rams entered this season disappointed at their third-place finish in last year’s conference tournament and were determined to get what they felt was theirs. Baranello said this attitude spread to incoming class and made them work just as hard to reach their goal.

“I think we’ve been preparing for this since the fall,” Baranello said. “Since day one we’ve been working, whether it’s conditioning or weight training, we’ve been putting in the work. On and off the field. We’ve just had such high standards.”

Seeing the fruits of their labor is a dream come true for Harris.

“It feels great because me personally, I’ve never had a ring and always wanted one,” she said. “It feels great to be able to play on a team that put in the work and achieved what we wanted to from day one.”

Albany State, the No. 8 seed in the South 1 Region, faces top-seeded Palm Beach Atlantic at 6 p.m. Thursday to open the four-team, double-elimination regional.

The Rams enjoyed tremendous success against SIAC competition, going 19-0 during the regular season and winning all four SIAC Tournament games. But they struggled during the regular season outside of conference play, going 6-22.

The freshmen all believe the scores of their 28 non-conference games did not reflect the way they played. They attest that each game was competitive and came down to minor details, which they’ve since worked to correct.

Head coach Amber Barker echoed these sentiments and said they’ll need to put together their best offensive performance of the season if they hope to advance.

“We have to score more runs,” she said. “We have to hit and we have to have timely hits. There were times we had hits but then we left too many people on base. Or we had a hit and it was a single and then something happened and now we’re out, so we’ve got to do it consistently.”

While NCAA Tournament play is a new experience for the entire team, Barker said the faith in the six in particular remains unwavering.

“Just from the beginning, we’ve started five to six freshmen at a time,” she said. “Even from the beginning, we had a couple of upperclassmen who were hurt, and that was valuable experience. And then you have several of them who have been mainstays in our lineup since then.

“We talk about how we kind of threw them into the fire, and that has helped them get to where they are now.”