By Izabela Gage Sports Editor The Framingham State softball, baseball, and lacrosse teams traded the lingering New England winter for the Florida heat this past spring break, each going on the road to face new competition and strengthen their bonds. With packed schedules and fresh opportunities, all of the teams were excited for a week of hard work, playing the sport they love, and relaxation with their teammates. The women’s lacrosse and softball teams each rented a house for the week. The baseball team had four condominiums rented out next to each other, and the team was divided by their positions, according to freshman middle infielder Camdon Bradford. The women’s lacrosse team played two games in Panama City, Florida, and won one of the two games. They returned to Framingham State with an overall record of 2-4. Junior Kelley DeBellis, a member of the women’s lacrosse team, said her favorite activity on the trip was “spending time at the beach with my teammates after morning practices. Getting a break from that brutal New England winter was needed.” DeBellis said the team had dinner together every night on the trip and played card games together. “Just being around the girls and laughing automatically brings us closer.” Maggie Grout, a senior on the women’s lacrosse team, said that after living in a house together, “The team is definitely much closer because people bond or get close to someone who they weren’t as close to before the trip. All the time we spend together has helped our connections on and off the field.” She added, “It created an environment of teamwork and good communication. Whether from cooking meals and sharing stories, to playing games together, or just relaxing post practice or game.” DeBellis said the best part of the Florida trips every year is “how close we all get as a team. We are with each other the whole break, so it really does bring us closer and helps us on and off the field when we create stronger team chemistry.” Grout said her favorite part of the trip this year was “being at the beach with all my teammates and going in the ocean.” She said after she graduates, she will miss “getting to live in a house with all my best friends and play lacrosse together in such an awesome place!” DeBellis said, “I’d love to compete with other teams outside of New England - it would make the game so much more diverse.” Grout said playing teams they typically don’t play “is a really fun way to challenge yourself against a style of play we may not see in Massachusetts.” The softball team played 10 games in Clermont and Orlando, Florida, and won eight of them. The team arrived back in Massachusetts with an overall record of 9-3. Jocelyn Pepe, a freshman on the softball team, said her favorite memory of the trip was “beating Endicott in our last game, because it was something the upperclassmen were looking forward to.” She added that it felt nice for the underclassmen to help work for and earn a good win. Pepe said her favorite activity on the trip off of the field was when the team would sit together by the pool. “We would talk for hours, and it was just so fun bonding with everyone.” Graduate student Makayla Rooney, a member of the softball team, said her favorite memory of every trip is “getting coach to get us ice cream, even if he doesn't want to.” Pepe said sharing a house for a week “made us so much closer because we would just hang out in each other's rooms and talk for hours. We all feel like better friends now than ever before.” Rooney said her favorite part was being able to spend off days hanging with her teammates and “because we really only see each other at softball … it's nice to be able to talk about what they do outside of softball, what their hobbies and stuff like that are.” Rooney said what she’ll miss after graduation is “spending quality time and not just being on a field, being locked into a game - just really getting to know the people that you are with. They're your second family outside of your own.” Playing in Florida gave the freshmen a chance to learn from the upperclassmen in game situations, Pepe said.
She added, “I think it helped the freshmen get good reps without it being too scary because we weren’t in conference play yet.” Rooney said she thinks connecting off the field is “just as important, if not more important, than on the field, because if you don't connect off the field, you're not going to connect on the field.” She added that the team bonding “really helped us in our games in Florida.” Pepe said living together “helps build trust between us that our teammates always have our backs no matter what and that the care we have for one another extends beyond the field. We care about each other as people and not just softball players.” She said playing teams from places outside of New England is a “cool experience because you get to see what the atmosphere is for them and if the standard they set for playing are different depending on where you're from.” Rooney said, “Seeing faster pitching and more ball movement and the speed that other teams and different states might play are a lot different than we do. So I think seeing that and adjusting to that will make our season a little bit easier.” The baseball team lost all nine games they played in Auburndale and Winter Haven, Florida, and came back to FSU with a 1-11 overall record. Bradford said he enjoyed the time the entire team spent together off the field. “My favorite activities were obviously the games we played, as well as hanging out with the team and taking advantage of the warm weather,” he added. Lucas Basile, a senior on the baseball team, said the best part of the trip each year is “taking the field every day. We only have to worry about playing baseball. Just getting up in the morning, seeing my teammates in our condos, and getting going.” He said his favorite memory from this year was when the team played two nine-inning games in one day. Basile said the team living together creates a supportive environment. “You understand the guys’ quirks, and if they're feeling down, you go and support them, or if they're up, you keep cheering them on.” Bradford said he thinks the team living together helped build chemistry. “It forced us to spend time with people that we wouldn’t normally spend time with, and I know that a lot of guys got a lot closer during the trip because of this.” He said, “The Florida trip definitely helped a lot of freshmen like myself, because we were able to let different guys get chances to show what they can do on the field. “The trip allowed guys who aren’t everyday starters to get some playing time, which is a very nice reward for them since they are working hard every day at practice just like our starters,” he added. Basile said the teams the Rams played against in Florida were good teams and “facing tough competition like that early in the season should set us up for success later in the season when we start conference play.” Basile said when he graduates, he’ll miss being around his teammates constantly. “It's like going on vacation with your friends and living in condos together.”