North Dakota softball fighting to keep program alive
The University of North Dakota softball team took the field at Louisiana Tech Invitational in Ruston, LA., on February 10 and let out a sigh of relief. It wasn’t just that the season started it was that the program was still alive.
“Luckily we get to play now,” said redshirt junior Kaylin VanDomelen. “In the fall it was a little we didn’t have anything to base off what we were doing. But we are playing now and we can focus on that and let our results speak for themselves.”
In October, eight athletic programs at UND faced the possibility of being cut. Baseball was cut in the spring and men’s golf went with it. The reason is because the university lost 20 percent of its state funding. That’s equivalent to $1.3 million.
The process has been mentally exhausting for everyone involved in the program.
“The toughest thing was going day-to-day and putting in the work and being as dedicated and committed as all student-athletes are, not knowing if the next day a decision would come down and that would be the end for us,” said head coach Jordan Stevens. “It wasn’t tough to go into work but it was tough not knowing. Are we doing all this and they are going to cut our legs out? It was mentally exhausting probably more than anything else because we just didn’t know.”
Autumn Cervantez, a senior for the Fighting Hawks, along with VanDomelen are the team captains and the responsibility fell on them to keep everyone positive and to keep going. They fielded questions from the younger teammates and both agreed that it brought the team closer together.
“Anytime, anything new came out we had a conversation about how we were going to handle it. There was a lot of back-and-forths and these two (Cervantez and VanDomelen) did a great job handling it.”
Photo credit to Bernie Connelly
March 6, 2017, is another important date for the university. Everything is back on the table, not just athletics. Stevens said it’s less stressful knowing that the focus isn’t on athletics but playing also helps.
Another thing that will help the athletic budget is the move to the Summit League from the Big Sky Conference. It will cut down on traveling for conference play but just like any other northern team, UND will still spend the first six weeks on the road. Something that team enjoys and makes memories from especially since they won’t see their home field until April 5 for the first of 12.
“You really do get used it and there’s so much bonding all the time. Even when you are walking to get bags or going to get food or running through Denver International Airport for a flight that’s delayed,” laughed VanDomelen. “We ran to that gate and it turned it out we had plenty time,” Cervantez chimed in.
Since Stevens was hired in July 2014, the Fighting Hawks record keeps improving. The 2015 season finished at 12-43 but the doubled the number of wins. Last season was a 17-37 record. So far in 2017, UND is 7-8.
“We are building this program (for the future) and if you want to be winners come to North Dakota,” said Certanvez.
As part of ongoing efforts to raise money for the softball program at UND, the team has a crowdfunding site. The goal is $15,000 and all the information can be found here: http://act.undalumni.org/site/TR?pg=team&fr_id=1070&team_id=1040
