Asst. Feature Editor / Lara Dominique Solante

At USD, club teams are what give student-athletes a chance to shine if they haven’t already been signed onto an official team at the university. In Fall of 2023, USD sophomore Sophia Skubic had the idea to start a new club softball team. After a semester of intense planning and lengthy meetings, Skubic was able to get her vision off the ground with the help of fellow USD sophomore Ruby Stinson. Together, they were able to achieve official club standing at the beginning of this semester, spring 2024.

Skubic, the team captain, shared her intentions for starting the team.

“I started this club, because I have always loved softball and wanted to bring it to USD for girls who just wanted to have fun and play the game,” Skubic said.

Prior to this semester, USD did not have a club team for softball — only the intramural and official university teams, which was something that Stinson was initially displeased with.

“I wanted to help start the club, because I loved softball throughout my childhood and high school, and I was honestly bummed to see USD didn’t have a club team. I love mixing sports with academics as something to look forward to outside of the classroom, and so I thought it would be super valuable to bring that to USD in a casual way, with a sport that I love so much,” Stinson shared.

USD junior Audrey Krishnadason shared her intentions for joining the team.

“I joined because I am a transfer, and I played at the collegiate level at my last school. I didn’t want to play at the D1 level because I wanted to focus on my academics, so I decided that [a club team] would be a good inbetween level of commitment.”

Over the past few weekends, the team has been gathering for their practices, building their skills and team dynamics, which they were able to give an insight into.

“Everything so far has been so fun. We’re definitely looking for more members, but practices have been a blast, and it feels so good to be back on the field. You can tell everyone else feels the same,” Skubic shared.

Stinson also shared the same sentiment. “As of now, it’s just been awesome that girls have expressed interest to come out and practice with us, and they plan on joining this semester. Having already had a handful of girls consistently come out and love it, the future is looking positive to recruit more girls in semesters to come. Luckily, we have a few buffer semesters to lock everything in before league, which will be mainly with Arizona and LA teams.”

For the next semester, the team is planning on traveling to San Marcos and Irvine for tournaments. They are also looking to join a competitive league, like club basketball, club volleyball and club soccer have — a defining characteristic of that league being their playoffs, which is something the team is hoping to experience. According to league rules, the team is not allowed to join a league for a year from the time the club is started, so they will have some time to build and grow and find a coach before they jump all in. Skubic shared her additional goals and visions for the team.

“My goals for this club are to grow the team and join a league, so that we can play in tournaments next year. [I am] looking forward to getting a great group of girls together and finding a second family. I would love for there to be a softball club team on campus even after I graduate,” Skubic said.

Krishnadason also shared her perspective on the growth of the new team for the coming semester.

“We don’t have many players and we haven’t been able to field a full team yet, but there are girls who have been playing for a while. If we could just get a couple more [players] to come out, we could be pretty good. We are all just there to have fun, so it keeps the mood really light and high energy.”

Skubic identified the obstacles that she faced — this semester and last — in bringing her idea and the team to life, with the main obstacle being logistics of getting all the interested players together.

“Just getting the word out has been hard, and getting times where everyone can come. [There is] a lot of interest in the club, but not a lot of action from the student side right now, but that’s our main goal for this and next semester, to just grow the team,” Skubic added.

Stinson’s perspective appeared as though they will mostly be focusing on growing and expanding the team for this semester, and organizing themselves to join a league for the next fall and spring.

“I have a feeling it will be a very chill semester, and we will get so many more girls at the Alcalá Bazaar next semester, and we can start planning for league. I am so excited to see where this goes, and am very open to suggestions from the team. It is definitely hard starting a club from scratch but it has all been worth it, and I have a great team to help me out,” Skubic said.

As the semester continues, the team will continue to develop their skills as athletes through practices and bonding, especially with the opportunity that they were given thanks to Skubic’s vision for the new club softball team.

Women’s club softball provides another opportunity for women in sports.  Photo courtesy of Sophia Skubic