Fairbury softball ready for new season under new head coach

FAIRBURY, NE — Under a new coach in 2022, the Fairbury Lady Jeffs Softball team is gearing up for the season.

"I think the girls are ready to fight and are ready for this new challenge of this new season," Head Coach Marisa Garver said.

Garver comes to Fairbury from Norris where she was an assistant coach. This is her first job as a head coach.

"It's a lot more responsibility in the sense there's these little things I have to take care of that I've never had to take care of before, but overall I just feel like I'm used to softball, used to being out at practice and preparing for games," Garver said.

Fairbury won a state title in 2019 and made the state tournament in 2020 before falling just short of the tournament last year. Senior Catcher Casidy Sipek was part of that championship squad. She says chemistry is important for the team to return to Hastings.

"Chemistry is definitely our top priority right now," Sipek said. "It helps us a lot on the field and off the field and there's no drama so we get along great."

Garver says the experienced players like Sipek will be key as the team adapts to their new head coach.

"The juniors and seniors will be a big help to me," Garver said. "I looked back on their season last year and who had key roles on the team and lot of them were those now upperclassmen. They already have that experience on the field and they'll be able to carry that into the season." 

Sipek says the Lady Jeffs are ready to roll with Garver at the helm.

"I'm glad she's coming in," Sipek said. "She'll bring in new things for us to do and I think she'll do great to guide us to where we need to be this year."

Fairbury opens the softball season on August 18th against Freeman.