I saw some good things this weekend from our softball and soccer teams as they competed for the first time this season.

In Dowagiac, the Niles and Chieftain softball teams both went 2-1 on the day and coaches Ryan Frontczak and Mike Behnke both know their teams could have easily been undefeated.

It came down to one bad inning for both teams against Paw Paw.

Behnke and Frontczak overall were happy with where their teams are after just three games.

Niles is going to play good defense and hit the ball. The question is pitching. The Vikings lack experience in the circle, but from what I saw, it’s just a matter of logging innings for their hurlers.

The same is true about Dowagiac. The Chieftains look stout on defense for the most part and have the ability to hit the ball up and down the line up.

Dowagiac has two experienced pitchers and a freshman. That trio should make the Chieftains much more competitive this season.

The Dowagiac soccer team went 0-2 in the debut of new coach Ryan Haines.

The Chieftains have just two seniors and three juniors on the roster, so it is going to take take to learn a new system and pull things together.

What I liked about Saturday is that I saw players that were aggressive. That is hard to teach, so I expect this team to improve as the year goes on.

 

Scott Novak is sports editor for Leader Publications. He can be reached at scott.novak@leaderpub.com