The
Tejanas softball team has taken a 360-degree turn to prepare for this
year’s upcoming season.
It’s like they were reborn with new coaches, new incoming players
and a totally new, eager attitude to win. The Tejanas are seeking
to gain everyone’s respect back and that could only work with
a combination “of doing good at school where it carries out
to the field and to the team,” said assistant coach Kathryn
Gutierrez.
Even though the pressure is on for the Tejanas to become the winning
team that they once were, the team prefers not to look back.
“We
just want to focus on what is going on right now and what we need
to work on to improve ourselves and the team,” said head coach
Amanda Gamboa.
Right now there are 25 players on the team. Eight of them are returning
players and the rest are freshmen. Although the season hasn’t
started yet, the consequences from their hard work is starting to
show. Four players are already injured.
“We are having a lot of conditioning going on so we can prevent
injuries from happening,” said Gamboa.
Among the injured players, is freshmen catcher Megan Pumphrey from
Quinault, Washington.
“My goal is to be 100 percent for the beginning of the season,”
said Pumphrey. Pumphrey recently had surgery on her arm and is on
rehabilitation, and doesn’t stop her.
Pumphrey, 18, was introduced to softball when she was in sixth grade
by her father, who became her softball coach for the next three years
in a outside league. Once in high school, Pumphrey joined the school
softball team and as a freshman, she made the varsity team. During
all four of Pumphrey’s high school years, her team made it to
state, and her senior year they won state.
Last year’s coach, Shannon Grady, in a recruiting camp in California,
recruited Pumphrey to play on the team. She wasn’t bothered
when she learned that the coach who recruited her had left the team.
“I knew the college was going to get a great coach and everything
turned out to be okay,” said Pumphrey.
The transition of moving so faraway from her family hasn’t affected
Pumphrey, since it was something that she had being looking into.
“What brought me to El Paso was the weather, because I was kind
of tired of being in Washington where it rains all the time,”
Pumphrey said.
“I miss the trees and my family,” she said. Still she
has felt really welcomed by her teammates who, in many ways, help
her out by taking her grocery shopping or out to Chico’s Tacos.
Between school and softball there is no doubt that Pumphrey keeps
atop her game. “Academics come first. I have always been organized
and I never procrastinate,” she said.
Pumphrey’s goal is to become a second or third grade teacher.
“Everything is balanced and everything is falling into place
with softball and school,” she said.
She feels that she is contributing to the team with her catching skills
and positive attitude. “I feel that I have a pretty good knowledge
of the game,” she said.
That is why the Tejanas having such young coaches doesn’t bother
her. At such young a age, she herself has the opportunity to gain
experience through her playing.
“Coach Gamboa and coach Gutierrez are really knowledgeable of
the game and with practice we are all improving daily,” said
Pumphrey.
