Dixie State University has started training for its spring sports with scrimmages for both baseball and softball.
Both teams have already seen scrimmages and are preparing for more this week.
Baseball
DSU started its second year of playing preseason games against College of Southern Idaho on a good note on Oct.18.
Due to NCAA rules, DSU wasn’t allowed to keep score during the game on Saturday. Head coach Chris Pfatenhauer said despite not keeping score, the team held up to his expectations.
With this being the second year Dixie has had the opportunity to play pre-season games, Pfatenhauer said it was a great opportunity for the team.
The NCAA allows the teams to play for four hours during pre-season. Pfatenhauer said the Storm got around 14 innings in that time.
“CSI is a very competitive junior college; we recruit a lot of players out of there,” Pfatenhauer said.
DSU has recently recruited junior infielder Tanner Morache and junior pitcher Kolton Brost from CSI.
Pfatenhauer said it was a good chance for the CSI players to be in St. George and see the Storm’s facility and see the coaches. It also gives the coaches a chance to watch the players for future recruiting.
DSU is three full weeks further into the fall-ball than last year. Dixie played the University of Utah one week into practice last season.
“It was a mistake; we weren’t really prepared for it,” Pfatenhauer said. “We know each other better [this year].”
This year, none of the 39 players are currently injured, and they are preparing for pre-season games just like any other.
“This [was] pretty much a normal scrimmage,” said pitcher Rustin Sveum, a junior business major from Scottsdale, Arizona. “We haven’t really been preparing for CSI, we have just been getting our basic stuff down and getting the team together.”
Senior Chance Abrath, a senior business major from Salt Lake, said the Storm’s first game is for the team to get out there and get a feel for the game.
“We have a lot of experience now so we don’t have as many nerves going into those games,” Sveum said.
Sveum said because of experience they were more calm during the scrimmage.
The Storm will have another scrimmage against College of Southern Nevada on Friday at 4 p.m. at Bruce Hurst Field.
Softball
The women started their season on Oct. 4 in a double header against Snow College. Head coach Randy Simkins said the Storm won both games.
DSU then batted up against College of Southern Nevada on Oct. 11 in another double header. The Storm took the win for both games as well.
“We played well in both weekend double headers, not great, but well enough to win all four games,” Simkins said.
Simkins said, like every year, he has high expectations for the team.
“We went 51-10 last year and only lost two seniors, so on paper we look ready to make another deep playoff run again this year,” Simkins said.
He said the other teams in the West Region are very good as well, who all have returned a large part of their teams.
The team has four new freshman this year, Janessa Bassett, outfielder from Stansbury; Cassidy Morton, an infielder from Diamond Bar, California; Sarah Good, an outfielder from Castle Rock, Colorado; and Alexis Barkwell, a pitcher from San Diego.
Simkins said he obviously expects big things from each girl, but Bassett is one to look out for this year.
“She could be the fastest player ever to wear a Red Storm softball uniform,” Simkins said. “She was named 2014 Deseret News Ms. Softball in the state of Utah.”
The Storm have another scrimmage against Southern Utah University on Friday in a double header starting at 5 p.m.
