MANKATO, Minn.— The focus of the season for fifth-year Bethany Lutheran head softball coach Dan Nessler is to have fun and compete at the top of the conference. "Our goal is to first play a season," he said. "It's been difficult on these student-athletes with spring sports getting stopped mid-season in 2020, but we are here to compete, we're here to win, and to compete at the top of the UMAC."

The coaching staff has discussed taking a different approach this season, mainly due to the unknown of what the next few months will bring. Unlike the winter sports, the spring sports have peers to lean on and learn from in how to navigate a season that may bring numerous pauses and resumptions. "One thing we've discussed as a coaching staff is we that we need to decompress a little bit on practice and have a little bit more fun," said Nessler. "At the end of the day, we don't always know if we're going to play the next day or not. We've tried to make it more fun, the players are having fun, they're excited to be there. With a young team, we'll try to get better every day, and see what our final product is at the end, which I believe will be solid."



One thing Nessler has learned about his team in this preseason is their resiliency. "They're working hard with everything that's been thrown at them with the pandemic, masking, testing, Zoom meetings, social distancing, and remote learning."

The Vikings will feature a number of newcomers on the field this season. "We are going to be a little young, we'll have four, five, or six newcomers in the lineup a lot, but I'm also excited that they're athletic," he said.

Nessler sees all of the returners in playing an important role in the form of leadership. "We're going to need the leadership in some of those upperclassmen, there's no question about it, as we'll be top and bottom heavy as far as senior and freshmen type things," he commented. "Anyone that's coming back from last year, if they forge the right direction for those younger players, we'll be ok."

When asked how he will measure success this season, Nessler replied, "having a full season to me would be success. We won't try to qualify a number of wins, because of what's transpired for every program out there. We play a tough enough schedule that we'll have our hands full, but by the end I think we'll be very competitive."

Bethany opens its season Saturday, Feb. 20 at its own Invitational against Buena Vista at 4 p.m. at the MSU Dome.