As another season starts, the expectations remain high for the Odessa High softball team.
The Lady Bronchos are coming off a 2021 season that ended with a trip to the area round of the playoffs, where Odessa High was swept in two games by Fort Worth Boswell.
Although last year’s group was led by a strong senior class, the remaining players are ready to take over and maintain the standard set by those before them.
Meghan Gattis is returning for her senior campaign and she feels that being a leader is a natural step for her.
The pitcher picked up important lessons from her team’s playoff run, including the fact that softball games can change in an instant.
“I learned that the game gets faster,” Gattis said.
Gattis will be joined by three other seniors and juniors who have made strong contributions in the past to start the 2022 season.
Although the Lady Bronchos haven’t faced any regular season action yet, they have already gotten a head start on chemistry building before their first game.
Gattis believes the group has been working together well in its first practices of the campaign.
“I’ve seen a lot of friendships building between people that I didn’t even realize were going to be friends,” Gattis said.
Diveli Cherry is entering her junior season and looking to build off the strong performance she had last year.
She has seen the team’s leadership step up to make sure everyone is involved and giving the same amount of effort and dedication to start things off on the right foot.
Cherry said the Lady Bronchos’ last series of 2021 against Fort Worth Boswell taught her that fundamentals are an important part of softball and they play a big role in how a contest will be decided.
Like Gattis, Cherry picked up a variety of lessons from last year’s graduating class.
“They definitely taught me to be more confident in myself,” Cherry said. “They were always there to help me whenever I was down and kept pushing me when I was up.”
Odessa High is going into its next campaign hoping that everyone on its roster can make positive contributions and come together quickly.
While the Lady Bronchos brought in some new faces, the constant of having head coach Rachel Pena remains as she is entering her 13th year leading the team at Odessa High.
Through her stint as head coach, she has tried to emphasize the importance of a strong culture to her players.
Pena has already seen that taking place before the Lady Bronchos take the field to officially open their schedule.
“It’s super important to pass on the culture and the expectations to the new [players],” Pena said. “We have five returners, so that leaves a lot of new ones.
“What I’ve been most proud of is our seniors helping, showing, teaching and giving back.”
The Lady Bronchos have been playing various scrimmages to prepare for the start of their nondistrict schedule.
A round robin scrimmage at the Ratliff Softball Complex was Odessa High’s final tune up before officially opening its season against Andrews at 5 p.m. Tuesday on the road.
Pena is anticipating District 2-6A to maintain its tough level of competition, where any team can come away with a victory on any given day.
“That made for an exciting season last year and I think it’ll be the same this year,” Pena said. “Everybody’s going to be good, so we’ve got to do our best to compete and we’ve got to do our best to hang in there too.”
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