The Elgin Community College softball team, which was set to start their 2018 season in late April, has canceled their season. The cancellation came after various attempts at rescheduling the team’s opening day due to rough weather conditions in the month of April.

According to Head Coach Joe Karasewski, the reason why is simple. The Lady Spartans were set to play their season with eleven committed players, which simply isn’t enough to make it through the season. If one or two of the players were to suffer an injury throughout the season, or if some of the players had to miss some of the games, then the team would have to miss a game due to not having a full team. As part of the rules to enter a team into competitive college level softball, if a team misses even just one game throughout a season, then all of the players on that team lose their eligibility for any sports teams they would like to join the year after that season.

“We were able to save these girl’s eligibility,” Karasewski said. “They’re really excited to save their eligibility, that’s going to be very important for them for their next two years.”

The softball team started with a lot more players, but many had to leave the team due to other commitments, such as working or their academics, according to Karasewski.

Karasewski points out that many of the athletes on the softball team are looking at their future sports endeavors here at ECC, and being barred from any of those would be detrimental to their future at ECC.

“We’re here to make sure we give these girls a positive experience,” Karasewski said. “We want to put ECC on the map. I want to create a culture where everyone challenges their viewpoint, to where they want to, and feel encouraged to plan ahead with their future at ECC.”

In the last three years, the softball team’s season has been canceled twice.

Coach Karasewski is optimistic about the future of ECC’s softball team, already looking forward to the 2019 season, and keeping his players in mind.

“We’re moving in the right direction,” Karasewski said. “We’ve already got committed players for 2019, the girls that have stayed on through the fall semester, they’ve practiced harder, worked harder, and they’ve improved.”