For The Tribune
While the conditions were not favorable, Trinity Lutheran defeated Southwestern on Friday with a strong performance.
Rain and wind persisted through the evening, but that didn’t stop two Cougars from shooting a personal best.
Senior Jessica Fleener shot a 58 while junior Macy Taylor posted a 48.
Taylor said she was excited to get her score, even though she did not expect to under such conditions.
“It’s exciting and makes me want to work even harder to get a new one,” she said.
Fleener said she feel great getting a new personal record and it was more of a challenge playing through the rain.
“It feels amazing,” she said. “I didn’t focus on (the weather) and just focused on hitting. If I had a bad hit I just shook it off.”
Demi Oakes had a 51 and Morgan Gabbard carded a 59 for the Cougars.
Cougars coach Greg Personett said he was proud of the whole team and very happy about Fleener and Taylor’s scores.
“Incredible,” he said of the performance.
“We’ve been working on making bigger swings, getting committed to the shots in front of us and staying focused and they did it and it worked.”
Personett said the team showed a lot of mental strength while playing through the rain, wind and cooler temperatures.
“Keeping grip dry, keeping your gloves dry, little things like having water drip off your visor onto your ball while you’re putting, maintaining focus through all this is difficult,” he said. “It’s easy to say, ‘I’m giving up, I’m done,’ but they didn’t do that.”
Personett said that one silver lining in playing in poor conditions is that players begin to focus on basics of the game rather than techniques.
“In tough conditions like this, your focus is a lot better to come by because you’re not worried about your swinging mechanics, you’re working on getting that ball in the hole as quick as possible and it proved it tonight,” he said.
Following the match, Personett said he was proud of the team for the effort they gave and even became emotional when congratulating Fleener on her personal best.
Tuesday, the Cougars will travel to Nashville to play at Salt Creek.