EPHRATA – The Ephrata fastpitch team has its sights set on reaching state after missing the tournament last season, and is doing so by bonding with one another on and off the field.

Practices are lively and energetic, with players joking around and supporting their teammates.

“It’s nice to be able to play around, joke around, but when it gets time, we can be serious and focused,” senior Jackie Turner said. “I think that helps a lot during game time.”

Helping with creating that team camaraderie is a returning core of many of the same players, and the Tigers only saw two seniors graduate from last year’s roster.

“The thing that’s nice about these guys is that they’ve played together for a little bit of time,” Head Coach Heather Wood said. “Last year they were on the team, we only lost two seniors. So they’ve played together for at least a year of high school ball, but also some have played together in the rec (leagues).”

Having a solid roster of player experience also assists with players picking up where they left off last season.

“It’s really good because then we can improve on what we built from last year and we’re two steps ahead in fine-tuning stuff,” Wood said.

Knowing how each teammate reacts to a game situation also lets teammates know how to support one another once it comes time for action on the diamond.

“There’s certain times in the game where we know how to pick each player up,” senior Alexis Park said. “Some players don’t like to be talked to, some players like to be hyped up. We know how to help each other out when we’re up and down during a game.”

Wood is supportive of the on-field chemistry as well.

“It’s really nice to have the on- and off-field friendships,” Wood said. “It just builds more and more as they’re working for the same goal.”

Along with team bonding, the Tigers have other strengths as well.

“They’ve got some pretty good bats and work well together,” Wood said. “It’s really coming along.”

Ephrata finished the 2022 campaign with a 13-11 record and a 5-7 record in regular season conference games.

“We set goals the first week of practice, and the ultimate goal is to make second day of state,” Wood said. “We haven’t made state since 2019, so they really want to get back to the state tournament and place in that second day. Taking the district top three just to keep advancing.”

The Tigers defeated Ellensburg 11-6 in the first round of the Central Washington Athletic Conference tournament but fell to Othello in the following game. Ephrata bounced back with a 21-2 win over Prosser but bowed out of the tournament with a 14-9 loss to the Bulldogs in the consolation semifinals.

“I’m definitely excited, I think last year was a really good opportunity for us to all learn how to work together and work as a team,” Turner said. “I think this year’s definitely our redemption year and we get another opportunity to come back and show who we really are.”

Ephrata, who has started the year with a 2-1 record, will look to keep up its success throughout the course of the season.

“The hard work, the communication and just having fun playing the game,” Wood said of what she hopes to see early in the season.

Ian Bivona can be reached at ibivona@columbiabasinherald.com.