It was like getting a Christmas present in the middle of the summer.
The past few years, it's been tough drumming up enough interest for Calvary Lutheran to have a softball team.
Then came this past summer.
"There were a couple girls who had gone to Calvary and were hoping to have a softball team this year, and when we had camp over the summer, we were trying to get as many eighth-graders to come in as we could," Calvary head coach Megan Werdehausen said. "So they were ecstatic when we found out we were going to have a team."
The good news is there will be a team. The only drawback is about three-fourths of the 11 players are freshmen. Still, it's a group that appears to have started a trend.
"We've had a lot of interest from eighth-graders already looking forward to coming here to play next year," Werdehausen said.
In the past five years, Calvary has gotten its own campus, added a softball/baseball field and added a gym. All of that is going toward the school population growing, as it has more to offer prospective students.
"It helps for younger kids to come out and take a tour of the school and spend the day here and know what Calvary has to offer," Werdehausen said.
Calvary is growing so much that adding the team didn't even hurt the volleyball team too much.
"A few of our girls did play volleyball last year and now that we have a softball team, they decided to play softball," Werdehausen said. "The volleyball program is wonderful here and they will still have plenty of girls."
Out of the 11, there's varying degrees of experience.
"We've got four girls who have played travel ball, and we have four girls who have never played ball in their life," Werdehausen said. "This is their first time ever coming out, and it's just because they wanted to support the team. They were interested and it's great that they have enough heart and courage to give it a shot.
"... Once we started practice, it's all started to mesh and come together. The girls with more experience are great at helping the ones who haven't played as much."
She added the newcomers to the game practically guarantee there won't be a team on Calvary's schedule that boasts less experience.
"But these girls have a lot of heart, and that's half the battle," she said. "They play as a team."
It's not only the players who could use some seasoning, as the coach is also a little green.
"I've coached Parks and Rec before and when my oldest stepdaughter started going here, I was like, "If you ever get a softball program, I'd be interested in helping out.' And it wasn't a couple months later that they said, "We're going to have enough girls, so we're going to start one,'" Werdehausen said.
She said she's benefited from having a good assistant.
"The coach I'm coaching with, John Burks, has a lot more experience than I do, so I've looked to him for a lot of things," she said.
Werdehausen and Burks met with the team Thursday and informed them where they'd be playing when Calvary opens its season at 5 p.m. today at home against St. Elizabeth. Werdehausen said basically every player got a tryout at every position.
"We just have start out with what we think will be great for the team and if we need to make changes, we'll make changes," she said.
With much of softball being about pitching, Werdehausen said she's glad to have Haley Braun in the circle.
"We got very lucky with Haley coming in as a freshman," Werdehausen said. "She's a great pitcher, and with (catcher) Amanda Braun coming in as well, they're two girls that have a lot of experience who have helped the other girls out a lot. We're lucky to have them."
The rest of the squad includes Emma Homfeldt, Kiara Lane, Brooke Rollins, Dannyelle Seaman, Andrea Stanford, Maci Steen, Brittany Werdehausen, Samantha Wren and Laney Zimmerman.
With such a small bench, staying healthy is a big concern.
"We have talked a lot about it a lot, trying to stay away from injuries is going to be one of our biggest things this year," Megan Werdehausen said. "We've really talked to them about, "Warm up as much as you can and stretch as much as you can, whether you're at practice or at home.'"
The Lady Lions will play a full schedule and compete in districts at the end of the season.
"We're excited about it," Werdehausen said. "When we first started talking about the team, we wondered if we wanted to go that far with it being our first year, and the girls were all like, "Yeah, we want to go to districts!' That's great for them to look forward to that, no matter how the regular season goes."