Courtesy of Castleton Athletics
Senior, Brittany Brayman swings at a pitch in a home game earlier this season.

Although not the most visual pleasing record the Castleton Spartans softball team currently sits at 6-8. But, records can lie.

“With our record at 6-8, given some of the things we’ve endured as a team that many people might not be aware off with injuries and illness we feel pretty good where we are,” said Head Coach Eric Ramey.

What the scorebook doesn’t show is Kayla Wood, the Spartan’s ace pitcher, rehabbing a back injury, limiting her for the beginning of the season.

This called for some damage control, but the Spartans were ready to handle the adversity.

“Last year we had our starters and we had our relievers and there wasn’t really an overlap. This year our starters could come in as relievers in the second game. Every pitcher has to be ready for every situation. So I think it’s made all of our pitchers stronger because we’ve had to be mentally and physically ready for anything.” said pitcher, Taylor Paquette.

Castleton looks to build on its impressive 2015 season returning six key seniors. The Spartans earned the No. 1 seed in the North Atlantic Conference playoffs last season and also hosted the tournament, but lost to New England College and Thomas College in the double elimination format in the semifinals of the NAC championships.

Jess Babcock, Chelsea Grady, Brittany Brayman and Katie Traver look to anchor the Spartan lineup batting in the middle of the order. Head coach Eric Ramey hopes that by putting speed players such as Timi Carone and Sami Carlo in the front and back of the order it will free up their “big bats,” of Gagne, Brayman, Grady and Babcock.

“I love knowing that I have something to give to the team, that I can get on base and give them a runner,” said Carone about her lead off position in the batting order.

Brayman agreed saying that getting on base early is a crucial part of the game they want to play.

“It starts a chain reaction. We can steal more bases, we can get them on and around to score,” Brayman said.

“POSTED” is this season’s motto, symbolizing a no trespassing type of attitude inside the field.

“It’s our own territory when we get to the field so we close out all distractions. Anything outside of the fences is not part of the game,” said outfielder Kristi Lawless.

Ramey emphasized the importance this upcoming week holds, facing Thomas and New England College at home this weekend. All three schools were picked in the top four of the NAC preseason coaches’ poll.

Although the Spartans have played a total of four games at home Paquette admits that when students are on campus, it makes home games a little more fun.

“We have a lot of fans on our baseball team so they are usually there cheering us on and we do the same for them, so everyone gets a little rowdy,” Paquette said.