Every year, during the last three days of the fall 45-day period, Wayne State Softball hosts their own internal ‘Fall World Series’ at Pete Chapman Softball Field. The senior players divide the underclassmen into two teams and play a three-game series to determine the winner. 

“We like to implement the World Series as a sort of ‘wrap up’ to our fall season,” Head Softball Coach Christy Warnock said. “We also like to put our athletes in as many situations as possible that force them to compete. 

Warnock said she was pleased with the competitive spirit her softball team showed in this World Series and the energy from both sides. Each team saw some successes and some areas to improve on, Warnock said. 

Besides this World series, Wildcats played five different opponents throughout this fall in scrimmages that don’t count toward their record but will help for experience for the spring season. The teams Wildcats played were Central Community College, University of South Dakota, Concordia University, University of Nebraska – Omaha, and Midland University.  

With USD and UNO being Division I schools, Coach Warnock said they were a challenge for Wayne State, “which is exactly what I was hoping for. You learn to be better by competing against those that are better than you.”  

Wildcats Softball practices vary quite a bit from day to day to keep the players engaged. “Softball can be boring if you do the same thing over and over again, so we try to mix it up.” Warnock said.  

The practices consist of some sort of defense where players split up the positions: infield, outfield, catchers, pitchers, so they can work on their position specific skills. From there, the Wildcats will work on some hitting. That happens in the batting cage or off a machine or a pitcher on the field. They wrap up practices with team drills that encompass all the skills involved in their sport. 

“It’s a sport of failure, where you fail more than you succeed, so learning to cope with that failure and push through it and respond from it is important,” Coach Warnock said. 

Wildcats also talk about understanding the sport better and having a higher “Softball IQ” so they can be prepared when different things come up during a competition. 

  “It’s our belief that training our mental game will be important to our success down the road.” Warnock said. 

At this point, Wayne Softball team is done with their fall season. They will start next week on Oct. 23 into their “Off Season” which means that the players do strength and conditioning for about four hours and practice with coaches a maximum of four hours a week. Softball focus now becomes the start of season at the beginning of February. 

Warnock cares a lot about her players as softball players and as students, but mostly as human beings. “I want them to achieve and be successful in all three of those categories and myself and my staff work hard to ensure they can be.” Warnock said. 

     In the Wildcats softball team, they are quite young in the sense they are starting over. They have nine freshmen on a roster of 21 kids. They added three sophomores, and they have more young players than experienced ones. The team is trying to find their footing, learning from teammates, to continuing to get better every day. 

“This can certainly bring about good change, as I believe it has already, but it can also present some challenges,” Warnock said. “I think we have done a lot this fall to work through that “get to know you” phase and I’m excited to see how far this group than grow in the coming months.” 

Warnock said it is amazing to her to have the opportunity to interact with these young women on a daily basis. Each one of them has their own personalities, their own challenges, their own goals, and getting to be a part of those things is her favorite part about coaching. She feels incredibly blessed to be in her current position, and her biggest wish is to make the most of the time she spends with each of her players. She loves this sport, “but teaching and inspiring the girls is absolutely the best part,” Warnock said.  

Moving into next year, “it will be good to see how we adjust as a new team and as a group that is continuously learning,” Warnock said. “If we accomplish what we hope to this offseason and apply it in the coming season, it will be exciting to watch this program, as a whole keep taking steps in the right direction.”