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More experienced New Prague softball team sets bar high again

By BETSY HELFAND, Star Tribune, 03/24/15, 6:34PM CDT

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New Prague’s softball team returns with more experience and a goal of sticking around longer at the state tournament.


Ashley Hoffman trained in the weight room with the rest of her teammates during practice. ] (KYNDELL HARKNESS/STAR TRIBUNE) kyndell.harkness@startribune.com New Prague softball team worked on in the weigh room for practice in New Prague Min., Thursd

At every turn last season, New Prague softball players looked to a laminated piece of paper to remind themselves of their goals.

Before every game and practice, they would read the sheet, which begins with “Hang a number!” at the top, with bullet points outlining the team’s goal to win conference, section and state championships.

Below that were the team’s mottos. Farther down, the team’s three pillars — commitment, character and competition.

Though their pillars led them to success, the Trojans fell short of their ultimate goal. This year, they return their entire starting lineup and enter the upcoming season more experienced.

New Prague, now in the Wright County Conference, begins its season against Glencoe-Silver Lake on April 7.

“I think we definitely have a target on our back this year,” coach Nat Wagner said. “I don’t think anyone saw us coming last year.”

But the Trojans surged, compiling a 13-5 regular-season record and winning five section games — four by shutouts — before falling to Maple Grove in the state tournament.

“Last year we learned how to compete at the section level, and hopefully this year we can take the process and go a little further,” Wagner said.

Though the team still is a couple of weeks from its first game, senior Brittany Reed said she’s already been questioned about a return trip to state.

“It’s like, ‘Well, we’ll see.’ Last year was an awesome year, and I hope we [return]. I have confidence that we have the ability to,” she said.

The Trojans were a young team last season, and now they have a better sense of what to expect if they do return.

“It was such a big stage for us that we’ve never felt that way. If we go back this year, we’ll be more calm and relaxed and just play the game we know how to play,” Reed said.

Wagner said he anticipates his team will be more mature and resilient after last year’s experience.

“Two years ago, we learned from mistakes at the section level and this year, we’ll learn from our mistakes last year,” he said.

That’s what the Trojans are trying to do early on.

The team is working on its mechanics, along with its chemistry, which, Reed said, already is strong.

It also will discuss the team’s culture in the upcoming weeks, tinkering with anything that might need adjustments.

Last year, the team split into position groups and discussed things it needed to work on, senior Ashley Hoffmann said.

From there, the Trojans reassembled as a group and tossed out ideas.

“As a whole team, [we] just started shouting out some words of [characteristics] that related to some goals that we had,” Hoffmann said.

The Trojans go through team-building exercises and leadership training. Wagner said that work helped adopt the team’s pillars last year. But when it came down to it, he took a step back, letting his team decide the values itself.

That process led New Prague to commitment, character and competition, which it used as its foundation.

The culture the Trojans created last season worked for the team, and Wagner said he wouldn’t be surprised if the pillars stay the same this season.

The goals will stay the same, too.

Wagner said even when the team was one-and-done at sectionals, it already had set its goal at winning a state championship the next year.

This year, with a foundation in place, that goal seems a bit more tangible.

“I think they feel good about the culture they’ve built, [but] I also think they’re still, to a degree, dissatisfied,” Wagner said. “We did not meet our ultimate goal, and we certainly hope to go a little further this year.”

 

Betsy Helfand is University of Minnesota student reporter on assignment for the Star Tribune.