This fall has not been routine for Iowa softball. Big Ten COVID-19 protocols limited the Hawkeyes to intrasquad scrimmages as opposed to their normal eight-game fall schedule.

According to head coach Renee Gillispie, simulating live game action at practice has been a challenge.

“It’s great to be able to go up against an opposition,” Gillispie said. “You get a lot of scrimmages against each other, and you just really can’t get the same type of competitive edge in those [intrasquad] games.”

This semester has not been a complete wash for Gillispie and her Hawkeyes though.

“We made the best of what we had,” senior Aralee Bogar said. “It’s always better when you play another opponent to see how you stack up because you know when you play your teammates all the time, you kind of get used to how the pitchers throw and pitchers know how we swing.”

Senior pitcher Lauren Shaw doesn’t see things that way. She believes playing against teammates can still scratch pitchers’ competitive itch.

“We’re still seeing some good talent, even if it’s not against another team,” Shaw said. “And we really set the bar high on the competitive edge, going against one another… as a pitcher, it’s harder to go up against a batter you know than one you’ve never seen before. It’s definitely a lot harder to get a strikeout against them.”

Similar to Iowa baseball, the softball team held a Black and Gold Series this fall. Assistant coaches drafted the players to the Black or Gold team and held a scrimmage every Friday.

Although the teams stayed the same each week, Gillispie said both the Black and Gold teams tested four or five different defenses every game to get each player repetitions at different positions. All position players on the softball team learn two or three different positions.

“We want to have depth at each position,” Gillispie said. “You want to put your best offense together that will also give you your best defense.”

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Because of COVID-19, the Hawkeyes are ending their team workouts a couple weeks early. Usually, they practice together until finals week, then transition to individualized workouts for the offseason. But, Gillispie said she’s ending team workouts next week, so the players won’t need to travel back after Thanksgiving and potentially spread COVID-19.

Bogar is going back to her hometown, Trophy Club, Texas, during Thanksgiving week and will be there through the end of the semester and winter break.

The Hawkeyes will be scattered throughout the country, but Bogar knows they will all continue training and hold each other accountable.

Each player typically has an individualized offseason strength and conditioning plan developed for them by Iowa’s strength and conditioning staff, but this season, that won’t be the case. The Hawkeyes will have to do whatever they can in their hometowns. Some will have access to a gym and others will not.

Gillespie splits her team into three groups during the offseason: Commit, Compete, and Connect. Each group has a leader, and they are responsible for monitoring the group’s progress and keeping them accountable.

The coaching staff also provides an individual workout plan for each pitcher on the team, specifying one or two things the pitcher needs to improve upon.

Shaw will be working on her pitching at a facility near her LaGrange, Ohio, home this winter.

“I’m lucky to come from a place in Ohio where great softball players come up,” Shaw said. “So, I’ll have some great softball hitters to face at the facilities.”