Softball Heads to Preseason Training Camp
Jan. 13, 2012
LAWRENCE, Kan. – With less than a month remaining before the season opener, the Kansas softball team headed south for a preseason training camp in Wichita, Kan., Friday morning.
For the third-straight year, the Jayhawks are making the trek to Wichita for a weekend of training at the Wichita Mustangs Softball Academy indoor training facility. Complete with an indoor field, as well as an extra infield, batting cages and a bullpen, the facility allows the team to work thoroughly on all aspects of the game.
“It’s an incredible facility,” head coach Megan Smith said. “It allows us to get so much more work done with an indoor facility like this one. We’re very appreciative to the Wichita Mustangs.”
The full indoor field allows the Jayhawks the space to run complete infield and outfield drills in live situations as well as play intersquad scrimmages. Smith said since reporting to campus this week, her team has worked on fundamentals, getting back into rhythm since the break but has focused primarily on mental toughness. The team went through professional mental training sessions in Lawrence prior setting out for an intense weekend of training in Wichita.
“We feel really good about where we left off in the fall,” Smith said. “The mental training was an unbelievable experience for our team, mentally and physically. So after a good start up here in Lawrence this week, we’re heading down there ready to jump right into it.”
Following the fall season, in which KU posted a 6-0 record, Smith told her freshmen that they are no longer rookies with that experience now to their credit. The preseason training camp adds to that initiation as the freshmen get their first taste of life on the road. With a 29-game road stretch to start the season, the more experienced in traveling they are, the better.
“This shows the freshmen what life on the road is like when traveling with the team,” Smith said. “So by the time we take our first road top, it’s really their second.”
UP NEXT
Kansas will open the 2012 season against Tennessee-Martin in game one of the Southeastern Lion Classic in Hammond, La., Feb. 10-12.
