Two players from Chapman University are assisting at Orange, Lacee Collins (a basketball player) and Jenni Bankus (a catcher).
"They bring some credibility; in the case of Lacee, she's a freshman at Chapman, but on her high school team in Tucson, they were state softball champion two years," Panther Coach Rocky Parker said. "And Jenni is starting catcher. They can say this is what you need to be doing and focusing on.
"We're trying to make our program better."
Six freshmen who will play for the Panthers played for Central Orange, an under-14 national championship Bobby Sox team, so things could be looking up for Orange, which finished last season 5-18, 0-10 in the Century League.
"It should be interesting," Parker said.
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The first week of softball, Connelly began its "Class Plays," an activity which requires most members of each class to participate in some way, either as actor or behind-the-scenes technician. That has prevented the Koalas from getting in sync, though it has done wonders for their dialogue.
Coach Kimberly Zavodnik said she has missed five to seven players for at least 30 minutes of every practice. The activity continued until Friday when students put on their performances.
"But despite that, we're still going to be good," chuckled Zavodnik.
"It's nice because they get to experience theater arts, but it's kind of frustrating as a coach."
The sophomores, by the way, did a satire on competition.
