After being trapped inside Kachel Fieldhouse for weeks, the Warhawks women’s softball team is ready to get outside. The Warhawks’ season officially begins on March 22, in Clermont, Florida where they’ll play a 14-game tournament in seven days. Senior outfielder Mallory Klotz is excited to finally break out of the fieldhouse and get on the diamond.

“We’re really itching to get outside right now, it’s hard practicing inside over and over again,” Klotz said. “It gets really repetitive, so we can’t wait to get outside and it’s a bonus that it’s Florida.”

Notable games for the Warhawks over break include No. 21 Saint Thomas (double header) on March 24 and No. 9 Luther on March 29.

The Warhawks are looking to continue their dominance throughout the WIAC as they finished conference play undefeated last season. Whitewater will also be looking to win their sixth straight conference championship. Klotz believes that winning conference is the team’s biggest goal for the season.  

“I would say win conference, have that back to back conference win and win the tournament for the sixth year in a row would be awesome,” Klotz said. “But we plan on just taking it game by game.”

The Warhawks return a majority of their talent from last season. Klotz enters the season as a preseason All-America pick fresh off a year where she earned first team All-America, all-conference and all-region awards. Sophomore Meg Cohrs returns after earning first team All-WIAC honors as a freshman and senior pitcher Bella Matthias earned WIAC Pitcher of the Year honors last season and is looking to improve on her performance this year.

“For pitching, I definitely want to decrease the amount of hits I’ve given up and decrease the amount of walks I’ve given up,” pitcher Bella Matthias said.

The Warhawks are preseason favorites of the WIAC’s head coaches and athletic communications personnel to repeat as conference champs after last season’s 37-9 record. However, for the Warhawks who come into the season ranked 10th,

“We’re just going to take it one game at a time,” head coach Brenda Volk said.

The Warhawks’ home opener will take place on April 5 against Carthage, and they begin conference play on April 7 where they will host UW-River Falls.