Tuesday marked the first day of outdoor practice for the Austin girls’ fastpitch softball team.

Wednesday, March 22, 2000

Tuesday marked the first day of outdoor practice for the Austin girls’ fastpitch softball team.

As the players unpacked their gear and slipped into their cleats for the first time, junior catcher Rhianna Jacobs found her shoes too small.

"I think I need new cleats," she said. "My feet haven’t gotten bigger, these are just small."

The dugout incident was a fitting one, considering the 1999-00 Packers will be attempting to fill the shoes of the 1998-99 bunch, a team that finished fourth in the state tournament and 20-8 overall.

Coach Todd Waterbury called that team a family – one that has plenty of holdovers on this year’s squad. The Packers return seven starters and 10 players overall from the state team.

"I love this team," Waterbury said. "I think we’re all excited about the potential this team has.

"But we know we’re only as good as the potential we realize."

As usual, Waterbury has asked his players to fill out goal sheets. Those sheets are likely to include lofty ambitions, which is OK with Waterbury, who believes it his duty to make sure the Packers don’t get ahead of themselves.

"The toughest thing will be to keep us from looking down the road," Waterbury said. "I’ve got to keep their concentration on the game at hand."

Austin opens its season March 31 at the Rice and Arlington Sports Dome in St. Paul, where Austin, Lyle/Pacelli, Dover-Eyota and Rochester Mayo will begin a day of scrimmaging at 10:30 a.m.