After finishing just 8-38 last season, the Scottsdale Community College women’s softball team is looking to lose the “underdog” label.

The Artichokes fought hard to win both games of their Tuesday afternoon double-header against the Paradise Valley Community College Pumas, improving their early-season record to 3-5.

Head Coach Sabeana Romero emphasized the youth of this year’s team, with freshmen outnumbering sophomores 14 to four.  Romero shared some goals for her young team in an interview with nevalleynews.org.

“Right now, we have a really young team and so our goals right now would probably be just to be mentally tougher when things can go wrong, and in this game, things can always go wrong, Romero said.  “So that’s just our goal is to be able to handle ourselves on the mental side of the game.”

Romero also shared some insightful characteristics about this team.

“We’re very loud and I don’t mean it in a bad way, we’re just an excited team, and anything we do we’re loud, and I call them a little bit extra. But that’s what I love about this team this year, they welcome everybody with open arms, and they love to be around each other, and so the chemistry right now is really good,” Romero said.

With a total of 14 freshmen on the team, Romero gave praise to their grind.

“They are really hard workers, Romero said. This year I have kids that are just accepting of the grind of what college softball is, and they are willing to go the extra mile, you know, do whatever it takes.”

Judging from Romero’s bio on the Scottsdale Community College Athletics website, it is evident that she isn’t just the typical softball coach. Her passion to teach stood out as she expressed her desire to grow empowered women off the field.

“I feel like my biggest thing is I hope that I’ve taught them some lessons that they can take into the real world. Whether it’s how to deal with confrontation with their own teammates or instructors,” Romero said.  “Yes–I can teach you how to hit off the tee, or how to field a ground ball–but my biggest thing is, okay, how do you handle yourself outside of softball and taking what I’m trying to teach you, learning from my mistakes, I can take accountability when I’m wrong.”