The Suffolk Christian Academy softball team returns a solid team that experienced some success last season.

The Lady Knights have started 0-3 on the season so far, but their record is not indicative of their play as they have been in some competitive games. They return a team filled with experienced players who helped win a national tournament last season. Even though the team lost some very good players from last year, they feel good.

“We lost some talented players, but we have some good players returning as well,” Coach Robbie Lester said. “We are excited about this season and the opportunity to be able to get better. We want to go out there and try to maintain the level we were at last season.”

The Lady Knights return Penelope Franklin, Heather Pearson, Laura Cornette and Aryanna Baird. They all played a pivotal role in the success the team had last year. The schedule this season will be filled with high-level competition for SCA. Last season was the first time the Lady Knights had scheduled public school teams, and the school has done so this year as well. They believe the competition the Lady Knights will face this year will help them in the long run.

“We want to continue to grow the program and make it more competitive,” Lester said. “We want to build the softball program overall for the school.”

Unlike the past couple of seasons, SCA won’t make the trip to Tennessee for the National Association of Christian Athletes tournament. They won’t be able to defend their division title they won last season due to scheduling issues. However, Lester and the team have talked about not allowing that to deter the team. The team did get invited to an Easter tournament in April it plans to attend.