The Unity Christian softball team is back in the state quarterfinals, but this year the Crusaders have done it with almost an entirely new group.
Unity (36-6) graduated most of the key players from last season's team that lost to Gaylord in the quarterfinals.
"We hit, there is all 14 girls in that dugout that can hit the ball and it goes a long ways," senior catcher Tory Decker said about what has made the team so good. "We field well and we talk, we encourage we are not down and if we are down, we find a way to dig ourselves up."
The Saders also have a new coach this spring in Dave Vander Meer, but they've had a great season sharing the OK Blue championship and winning district and regional titles.
"The biggest thing for me as a coach is I had to change how I coached this team," Vander Meer said. "This team is different, the makeup of this team is different, I had to learn the girls. As we went through the season I think they learned from me, I learned from them, I learned some of their strengths a little bit more and I think we are able to take advantage of those strengths as we head into this last week of the season."
Senior shortstop Ashley Veldheer is one of only three seniors on this squad and played in last year's game.
"To not give up in the game because I remember last year we were down in the game and then we came back to tie it and we ended up losing the game," Veldheer said. "I also know for us, if we do get down we can come back, but we also know that if we have the lead we can't get comfortable and keep the foot on the gas and get a bigger lead."
Unity Christian heads to Northwood University in Midland on Tuesday to play Escanaba in a division two state quarterfinal at 4 p.m..
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