AACC Women’s Softball players and coaches are preparing for the start of the 2019 season with just nine players and what the coach calls “a really young team.”

Head coach Guy Klingensmith said the team includes “a good group of freshmen.”

Assistant coach Brittany Nunez added, “We could use more girls than we have right now.”

Despite the small roster, pitcher Katherine Rosati, the only player returning from last year, said she has faith in her teammates.

Nunez, who played softball at AACC and graduated in 2014, said the team and coaches “definitely have faith in [Rosati’s] leadership.”

“I’m always there for my teammates,” said Rosati, a second-year nursing student. “I can’t wait to see how the season goes.”

Klingensmith said the Riverhawks added freshman pitcher Gracie Culley from Glen Burnie High School to their roster. “She’ll be our main pitcher,” Klingensmith said.

The Riverhawks will play their first game at home against Paul D. Camp Community College on March 6.

The Riverhawks’ 2018 season ended in a 6-1 loss to Suffolk Community College.

“We won regionals and came in second place in districts,” Klingensmith said.

The team finished its 2018 season with 12 wins and 22 losses.

“The season started out kind of slow,” Klingensmith said, “but once the girls started to know one another, we started to play really well.”