Sacramento State gained another new club sport this semester &- softball.

The Sac State Softball Club hopes to give everyone who is interested in playing softball the opportunity to do so regardless of whether they have previously played the sport.

“We want to make sure we can give all the girls who still want to play softball the opportunity to be on a team and be a part of a sisterhood,” said team captain Chelsea Harris, junior kinesiology major.

The Softball Club was established in the spring of 2010, but began this year. The idea to start a softball club originated from the Morris League Baseball Club, a baseball club created for competitive baseball, on campus, said club president

Chris Simpson, senior recreation, parks and tourism administration major.

“A softball club is something that has never been done before (on campus),” Simpson said. “It was something we could do and be the first to do it at (Sac State).”

The club started off with four members going around campus recruiting people to be a part of the club’s team.

“The four of us were going around campus, tapping people on the shoulder and asking if they were interested in playing softball,” Simpson said. “We built up a list of 70 contacts but we dwindled down to 15 players that wanted to play.”

Now there are 25 members in the club, 15 being the softball players of the team and the remaining 10 being administrative members.

The administrative members are male students who use the club as an outlet to coach and stay connected with the sport.

“With the club, I am doing something I enjoy,” said head coach Terrance Moore, sophomore criminal justice major. “Since I wasn’t able to play with the Morris League this year, I’m still keeping active out there in some type of baseball or softball organization.”

The team has weekly practices on Saturdays at Glenbrook Park, as well as team workouts Wednesday nights at the Well.

However, as the season continues they hope to add more practices to their schedule, Harris said.

“We hope to add additional practices to get the team together and have some team building,” Harris said.

Every Sunday, there is a meeting held for the club officers. Simpson said this gives the officers the opportunity to assess and talk about what happened in the past week and items on which the team needs to work.

It also allows them to plan out the team’s tasks for the following week.

The members are also trying to schedule more social events for the club to participate in, Moore said.

The members want to schedule events like sleepovers and bowling to get better connected with each other. The club also plans to have separate events so the women on the team can have a girls’ night, and the men of the administration can have a guys’ night.

In the future, the club plans to participate in charity events. It is working with another club on campus, the No Brainer Foundation, to coordinate a time where they can tutor local high school students from the Sacramento region.

Simpson said they hope to be able to participate in the event soon.

“A lot of these kids don’t have somebody in their presence that are doing these things,” Simpson said. “We want to help them in different areas and give them a positive mentor.”

Harris, Moore and Simpson all said they hope to gain leadership and organizing experience through the club, as well as meet new people, make friends and have fun within the sport.

Many students may not have the option of playing on the school’s team due to scholarships, tryouts and money. The softball club aims to allow students who are passionate about the sport to still play in a team setting.

“It is very political to be a part of a team at a university, especially with (Sac State) being a Division I school,” Simpson said. “You try out for a team and they usually already have their nine players who are going to play. They may have one position that they will let someone walk on but there are a lot of avenues that people do not know about to play on that team.”

The club offers those who are interested a less competitive outlet to the sport, Harris said. College teams can be very competitive because the women usually have years of softball experience under their belt. The Softball Club offers less experienced players the chance to get to that level of competition in their own time.

“Being on a collegiate team is really competitive,” Harris said. “We’re still competitive, don’t get me wrong, but we do offer an opportunity for those who have never played softball and might be interested in playing. We play all of our players whether their skill level is high or low.”

This club gives players who are interested the opportunity to continue their softball career.

“We want people that are good at playing and still want to play the sport to be able to come play competitively and hone their craft,” Simpson said.

You can reach Stacey Adams at [email protected]