Fresno State Athletics
Off the Field with Alicia Dowland
1/26/2001 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Jan. 26, 2001
FRESNO, Calif. - This season the Bulldogs' softball team will be young but somewhat seasoned. Five starters return but there are nine newcomers. There are six upperclassmen but ten underclassmen. There is no experienced pitching back but the defense has remained virtually intact. Is this team entering the season half empty or half full?
With just two seniors on the squad they come into the season with a mission. After all they were just freshmen when the Bulldogs' captured the university's first and only NCAA Division I team title after wining the 1998 national championship over Arizona on Memorial Day.
Centerfielder Becky Witt and shortstop Alicia Dowland are those two seniors. They will step out onto Bulldog Diamond for the last season of their collegiate careers. Dowland loves the sport, but feels the pressure, kind of like her first season.
"It [my freshman year] was nothing like I had experienced before," Dowland said. "I thought that I handled it pretty well, except for the first weekend. The first weekend was an eye opener for me, it kind of broke the ice. Everything has gone pretty well since then."
Dowland has full confidence in herself and her team. For her there is no room for fear or worry to enter into the equation this season.
"I know for sure that we will make it back to the World Series," Dowland said with certain determination in her eyes. "I don't think that I am going to be a leader because of my age, a person is a leader no matter what their age. I have always felt that I must be a leader because I play a role -- a role as a team player. Becky and I will need to be the lead leaders, but I think other leaders will rise up from a lot of different players on this year's team. We are going to have another great team. Sure there will be challenges, but in the end our talent will rise above all else. Our perseverance will have it no other way."
Dowland has been playing this game since childhood. She has a passion for it, and it shows. Along with Witt, she has an important task lying ahead and they are prepared to embrace everything that comes with it.
"I have had some confidence problems in the past," Dowland admitted. "But I grew up and no longer dwell or feed off the negativity. You have to be willing to be afraid in order to grow and become a better person and player. But this team seems to show no fear and thrive on the unknown. They don't know what 'I can't' means. They're not ready to make excuses. They just play, take the lumps, and get up fighting again."
Is this team half ready or ... No "but" here.
