Since taking over as head coach at Waynesburg University in 2015, Richele Hall has worked to change the culture of the softball program.

Although the Yellow Jackets have yet to make the Presidents’ Athletic Conference tournament in Hall’s tenure, she feels that this roster—which consists entirely of players she recruited—could be the group that changes that.

As the team prepares to head for Ft. Meyers, Florida to begin the season with eight games between March 4 and March 8, Hall feels an increased level of comfort because of familiarity between her and her team.

“I’ve built relationships with these players through their recruiting process,” Hall said. “Having them all together now is kind of a unique thing and I think that it’s cool and it definitely [adds a] comfort level. I find myself having a lot more fun with them rather than having to be like a dictator with them because they do respect me [having gone] through the recruiting process with me and they know what my expectations are.”

The team has no seniors on the roster, with four juniors, four sophomores and ten freshmen that will look to improve upon a sixth-place PAC finish a year ago, where the Jackets ended up three games behind fourth-place Thiel for a playoff spot.

Some key returners include junior first baseman Alex Lawrence and sophomore second baseman/catcher Ashley Dubovich, both of them were named second-team All-PAC last season. Another returner is sophomore outfielder/catcher Rachel Skon, who along with Lawrence, was named to the PAC’s preseason players to watch list. Along with Skon and Lawrence, junior pitcher Courtney Messenger and freshman outfielder Marlee Ott appeared to the list.

For Hall, while having talent on the field is key, another vital asset that will separate the Jackets from previous teams is them “buying in.”

“That’s going to be one of the major differences that we have,” Hall said. “Obviously we have more talent [than before] and all of those things, but one of the major differences [is] having that buy-in and changing that culture and being able to work around that.”

Lawrence is a player who Hall is especially familiar with. The two have a relationship that dates back before either one of them arrived at Waynesburg, with Hall coaching Lawrence’s summer league team when she was still in high school. Although Lawrence was the catalyst of the Jackets’ offense last season, ending the year with a .400 batting average, Hall sees her taking another step forward as an upperclassman.

“I see [Lawrence] picking up where she left off,” Hall said. “We worked on some of her weaknesses that she had last year through the preseason, and she’s been hitting the ball really well. I actually would say [she’s hitting the ball] probably harder than she did last year, and she had a lot of success [last season]…I think that instead of being second-team all-conference, she could potentially be first-team all-conference [this year].”

Since her offensive abilities are now more well known around the conference, Lawrence doesn’t expect to have as many opportunities to do damage at the plate as she has in the past. When she has those chances, however, she expects to take advantage.

“I know I’m probably going to get walked a little bit more,” Lawrence said. “I’m not going to see [as many] good pitches, so I’m going to just be patient at the plate. If they make a mistake, I’m definitely going to hit it.”

On the mound, Messenger is looking for a bounce-back campaign. After making second-team all-conference as a freshman, Messenger regressed in her sophomore year, with her ERA climbing from 2.16—which was sixth in the PAC—to 4.90. But Messenger has worked this offseason to get back to her freshman year form.

“The first two weeks of practice we did strength training, and I think that helped a lot with my legs and my core, so I feel like I picked up a few miles on that,” Messenger said. “I’m working on hitting my spots this year and really working hard to improve what I did last year.”

According to Hall, Messenger has gained two mph on her fastball. She sees her getting back into the form that made her one of the top pitchers in the conference two years ago.

“[Messenger is] more focused than ever to make sure that she cements her name in the PAC as one of the top pitchers,” Hall said. “I believe that she is going to do that…she’s just working really hard because she wants to prove people wrong.”

Messenger anchors a staff that looks to improve upon last season when the Jackets were next to last in the PAC with a 4.96 team ERA. Joining her in the rotation will be sophomore Taylor Staley and freshmen Emma Kubalak and Miranda Bowers. Hall said that the goal for this season was for the staff to have a collective ERA of 2.50.

Waynesburg hasn’t qualified for the postseason in since 2011. For Hall, while she sees the team as capable of making the postseason and even winning a conference championship, the main objective in the immediate future is Waynesburg to get to a level that forces other teams in the conference to take notice.

“Our biggest thing is that we want to earn other teams in the conference’s respect because we don’t feel that we have that right now,” she said. “We want other teams to respect us, and say ‘oh, well, [Waynesburg] didn’t beat us because they got lucky, it’s because they were a better team on that day,’ and I think that our biggest thing is that we want to earn that respect. I think if we can accomplish that this season, that would be huge.”