The Riverhawks softball team will open its 38-game regular season on March 8 with a double-header against the Howard Community College Dragons. 

 Softball head coach Guy Klingensmith noted the Region 20 competition will be tough this season.

“We’re just going to take it one step at a time [and] make it to the playoffs [and] make it to the Final Four,” Klingensmith, who is in his seventh year of coaching at AACC, said. “Hopefully we can move on from there.”

The last time the Riverhawks won a national championship was in 2003.

Pitcher and shortstop Jaclyn Nevins, a third-year exercise science student, said the team has “a lot of potential, especially from last year, to build. We had a pretty decent turnout last year. And I think we can do the same, if not a little bit better.” 

Third-year earth science student Sierra Fowler who plays first base, agreed.

“We have a solid team and everything,” Fowler added. “And I feel like we’re just going to keep building and do better than we did last year.” 

The Riverhawks will play only doubleheaders this season.

Last year the Riverhawks went 20-13 in the regular season with a roster of 10 players, and finished 2-2 in the postseason. The team lost to Chesapeake College in the National Junior College Athletic Association Region 20 Division II Double Elimination Round. 

Outfielder Alyssa Smith led the Riverhawks last season with 56 hits and a .509 batting average. Nevins carried the pitching staff with 172 strike outs. Overall, the Riverhawks had a team batting average of .325 and an ERA of 4.36.  

Smith “had a pretty good year last year,” Nevins said “Pretty awesome year. I think she can build off of that this year.” 

Reporter Cole Popov contributed to this story.