Now that the softball team has started to roll, its about time the beginning of its season was addressed.

Very few teams, if any, have gone through a beginning to their year like Eastern did this season. It is a feat for the Panthers to overcome a start in which they went 10-24, but even more amazing is the fact that all 34 of those games were played on the road.

What a stretch to the season, not only was the team scuffling but they barely got to see their own rooms during that stretch.

This also came during a year in which the softball team was showcasing a newly remodeled ballpark, that they weren’t able to open until March 9.

The kind of impact this had on the team was harsh because the team got off to the kind of bad start that also carried over to the beginning of Ohio Valley Conference play.

Because the first eight OVC games were on the road as well for Eastern, their poor play continued. In these eight games, there was only one game that Eastern ended up on the good end of the ball game.

That kind of start still has the Panthers playing within their conference even though they have started to play better softball now that they are playing at home more regularly.

Since they opened Williams Field in March, the Panthers have played six games on their home turf and have won all six of those games.

That has vaulted the Panthers back into the thick of the conference standings. But would such solid play at home be necessary if the Panthers had some home games sprinkled into that whopping number of 34 road games at the beginning of the season?

In fact after 34 games, that shouldn’t be considered a start to the season. That is at least reaching into the middle of the season and is entirely too much time to spend on the road.

One more factor, besides just the way they played, is that they couldn’t possibly gain any recognition on campus because they were never here.

I wouldn’t blame anybody on campus if they didn’t know that there even was a softball team that represented Eastern from the beginning of their season on February 28 until that opening weekend towards the beginning of March.

Now that they do play here at Williams Field it is easy to notice the days that they play. This is partially because of the new additions to the stadium. Mostly, it seems that the sound system installed on the ball park easily booms the action of the game over to at least Coleman Hall. When that happens its easy to realize that there is a game going on.

But kudos to this Panther squad for overcoming that kind of start on the road. I couldn’t imagine spending that much time on the road, and now they have come back playing solidly.