On Saturday morning, Rockdale High School’s softball team opened their 2021 season in a scrimmage with Holland, marking the first time the Lady Tigers have stepped on a field to face an opponent since March 11.
Five days after that outing in 2020, the UIL suspended competition and ultimately canceled the rest of the season, putting a halt to RHS’s campaign four games into district play.
Now with 2021 here and a global pandemic still looming over spring sports like a heavy rain cloud, head coach Meghann Infantino’s attitude coming into this season is one of gratitude.
“With COVID, we’re just grateful we’re getting to have a season,” Infantino told The Reporter. “I’ve been talking to the girls about just being thankful.”
This year’s team is very experienced, with six seniors and five juniors on the roster. However, District 19-3A requires the Blue-and-Gold to face rigorous competition on a regular basis.
This slate includes fifthranked Rogers and Lexington, a perennial power that has at least nine players returning from their 2020 roster and eliminated the Blue-and-Gold from playoff contention in 2019. The addition of Caldwell into their district has also made things much more difficult down the line.
“We’re just going to go in and fight for the three or four spot (because) we’re in the toughest district in Texas.” She said. “Hopefully we’re in the playoffs this year. We’re going to have to take care of the teams we know we can take care of and try to sneak one away from somebody else.”
Infantino also discussed her team’s strengths and weaknesses.
“Our offense is really consistent,” she said. “We put up a lot of points last year against teams like Lexington, when most people didn’t even score against them.
“We struggle with defense a little bit. Which is why coming into this season, we’ve spent a lot of time focusing on that and since most of my varsity is returning, I don’t need to work on offensive strategy.”
On the mound, juniors Haven Jimenez (at right) and Brande Breithaupt will split the bill.
Although she’s not a new coach, the Tarleton State grad was named head coach at 23 years old after just one semester as an assistant for the Lady Tigers. A transition that she is happy to make but has found some aspects of it difficult.
“The administration side of being a head coach is pretty tough,” she said. “I didn’t get a lot of practice with that before because I just had one semester under somebody before I took this job.
“I learned so much from Bart Gibbs last season and I picked up so many things from being around him,” Infantino said. “Now having Amanda Hibbs-Rodriguez with me this year, she’s coming from Liberty Hill and knows a lot. She has a kiddo in the select world and has seen a lot of things that are new for me. Playing four years of college, I feel like I have a lot of the softball side down but the admin side is so difficult.”
Infantino is a graduate of Lexington but has lived in Rockdale much of her life and has a particular connection to the team she is coaching this season.
“I’ve been umpiring this group of girls in (youth) league since they were in T-Ball,” She said. “Getting to watch them grow up from being little (kids) starting the sport to finishing out their senior year is something special.”
THIS WEEK—R HS heads to Thrall on Thursday for their second scrimmage of the season.
Junior varsity starts at 5:30 p.m., with the varsity playing immediately after.
The Lady Tigers return to Rockdale on Tuesday when they host a scrimmage with Taylor.
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