The Siena Heights women’s softball team is preparing for the start of the 2016 season this weekend, where they look to improve on their first winning season since 2003.

Following their 23-21 record for the 2015 campaign, the Saints are trying to have back-to-back winning seasons for the first time since 2000 and 2001, where they went 23-21-1 and 23-19-1, respectively.

“Over the last few years, we have been seeing the culmination of years of work to turn things around,” said head coach Laura Klutsarits. “We have been very close to surpassing that .500 mark several years and last year, finally got over that hump.”

According to Klutsarits, most of that success can be attributed to the team’s overall depth.

“We had more depth than what we had in past years,” she said, “which makes things more competitive from within. We also have had countless players over the last several years that have helped to lay the new foundation that we are looking for to build and put ourselves in a position to be a force to reckon with not only within the conference, but also on the national level.”

A lot of that depth will be returning this year as well, as the Saints look to take the next step towards qualifying for nationals.

“We have several key returners that we expect to have strong years for us again,” Klutsarits said.  “On the mound, Kelsie Abbott returns after a phenomenal season as a freshman. Megan Jones has been a force to reckon with in the middle of our lineup two years now, and we expect that to continue from her.”

“We are looking forward to a bounce back year from Kenya Keller, who was limited with injury a year ago as well. However, we also have several other returning players we expect big things from this year with more experience under their belts.”

One of those other retuning players is Julie Bonk. Bonk, a sophomore from Livonia, is a volleyball and softball dual athlete who hopes her experience can help lead the SHU softball team to new heights. For her, the goal is simple: keep getting better.

“Our main goal is just to go better than last year,” she said. “I think it’d be really great if we can make the national tournament. Our league is competitive. There are a lot of good teams. We just want to keep going up and build off last year on our way to the national tournament. That’s our ultimate goal.”