This season the softball and baseball teams plan on improving on their play last season.

Head softball coach Shannon Gower wanted her team to work on chemistry and to be a lot more efficient during the off season, she said.

“We added two new coaches, Amber Marlett and Felix Esparza, and they will help with managing practices so we will be more efficient during practices,” Gower said.

During the off season two key aspects of the game the team worked on were endurance and working hard in the weight room, Gower said.

The Lady Rams’ roster this season is almost split down the middle between upperclassmen and lowerclassmen, Gower said.

“We only lost four players from last season’s team, and we are gaining 10 new players from transfers and freshman, so I want the girls to always think to win and embed yearly goals every day,” Gower said.

The Lady Rams, who were 17-28 last season, are ranked fifth in the Sooner Athletic Conference this season and on Feb. 2 won their first game of the season, beating Howard Payne University 6-2. The team’s next home game is Feb. 12 at Gateway Park in Fort Worth.

Sophomore athletic training major and first baseman Kayla Prachyl said she set personal goals of hitting above .350 and having a 3.5 grade point average at the end of the semester.

“This year we had a one-word policy about how we approach the season and my word was ‘purpose,’” Prachyl said.

Junior criminal justice major and center fielder Dani West, like Prachyl, has set high goals for herself by attempting to strike out less than 10 times throughout the season and hit .350, she said.

“My word of choice for the season was ‘dare.’” West said. “I want to dare myself to do better every day, and to hustle for everything to become better.”

Head baseball coach Mike Jeffocat said he wants his team to improve on the mistakes they made last year. The team was 20-28 last season and is ranked fourth in the SAC Preseason Poll. The Rams’ next home game is a double header against Avila University on Feb. 13 at Fort Worth’s Sycamore Park.

“The team as a whole needs to execute situations a little better than we did last season if we want to improve,” Jeffcoat said.

The team has been rebuilding for two years after winning 40 games three seasons ago, and still needs a little more of an offensive and pitching presence, he said.

“Last season we would play well during the weekend games but struggle during the middle of the week because we lacked depth at pitching,” Jeffcoat said.

This season the Rams have a good mixture of returning players and new players, and added depth at a lot of positions, he said.

“Our goal for the season is to win 40 games, win the conference, then win the regional tournament to get to the NAIA World Series,” Jeffcoat said.

Senior business management major and third baseman Jake Davis looks to improve on his great junior season with more determination this season, he said.

Davis played in every game last season and hit .326 with two home runs and 20 RBIs, according to ramsports.net.

“I hit well but I feel I need to improve my fielding a bit and commit less errors to help the team win,” Davis said.

Junior exercise science major and pitcher Avery Sullivan just wants to help the team win, he said.

“As a pitcher I could really care less about personal goals,” he said. “Every pitcher wants to have a 0.00 earned run average, but if I can just do what the coaches want me to do on the mound it will help the team.”