The softball team started their season Feb. 17 against University of Indianapolis with a loss of 6-4.

Niki Stansell, head coach, said she is not worried about the team during their first year in NCAA Division II.

“Division II, Division I, NAIA, JUCO, Division III – it doesn’t matter the division, you prepare the exact same way,” Stansell said.

Since this is her first year coaching, Stansell said the team has done a great job of transitioning and is proud to watch them grow with the program.

“One hundred percent of the credit goes to the players on this team who show up and are hungry to become the best versions of themselves every single day. They are the ones that come with a great attitude, make great decisions on and off the field, balance being a student-athlete and put in the work. They are the ones who prepare,” Stansell said.

The team’s goal is to focus on doing better than the day before, Stansell said, not to look for specific results.

“If some of the things happen that we want, like getting to conference tournament or having a winning season, absolutely that’s what we want. Do we concentrate on those things? No, we concentrate on being better every day, being the best version of ourselves, and being 1 percent better than we were yesterday,” Stansell said. “If you do that correctly and get that formula in the right order, then some of those things we want to happen might just happen.”