Spring Valley softball has gotten off to an 0-2 start, but they are beginning to establish a consistent routine and play to their strengths.

The Cardinals opened the year with a 10-0 loss to Boyceville on Thursday with just one hit.

“We’ve seen some positive things,” Head Coach Matt Ducklow said. “I thought our first game with Boyceville, I thought defensively we actually executed pretty well. Boyceville’s got a pretty good team, very good starting pitcher.”

There were just a pair of errors in the field defensively for the Cardinals.

A day later, the bats got going a bit, reaching a dozen baserunners. Spring Valley could not get it done, losing 14-9 to Turtle Lake/Clayton.

“Kind of the opposite with our second game where I thought defensively we did not play very well,” Ducklow said. “We were pretty patient at the plate because their pitcher was struggling early in the game.”

Ducklow said if the team fielded in the second game like they did in the opener, they would likely be staring at a 1-1 record.

Ducklow has liked what he’s seen from junior starting pitcher Megan Harvey; he said the bats just need to start hitting to back her up.

It is Ducklow’s first season coaching the Cardinals. The team is trying some new things on both sides of the ball, and he said it is going to take a little bit of time to work itself out.

The conference grind came early for the Cardinals with the focus now on consistency. The season opener against Boyceville was a conference matchup and the team plays two more conference battles the week following.

Ducklow said the difference between winning and losing some of these conference matchups will be consistency. If the Cardinals can avoid unforced errors and put together solid at-bats, they believe they can turn around from a 4-15 record a year ago.