Robert Wagner, a two-time national champion softball coach entering his fourth year with the Coyotes, had a novel idea ahead of this 2020 campaign. With a $27 million DakotaDome enhancement still under construction this winter and limited practice space, Wagner proposed taking his first official week of practice out of the holiday break and moving the location – to Arizona.

He teased the idea on one of the first days of school in the fall, and worked out the details to make it happen. For the six Arizonians on the roster, it meant a few more days to be with family. For the native northerners, it meant much more.

“It’s way different being outside on dirt in 60 degree temperatures in January,” said junior infielder Lauren Wobken, who hails from Scribner, Nebraska. “You get more of the real game experience, we were all able to break in our new cleats ahead of our first game, and there was so much more we were able to do.”

“We got so much done from a team standpoint,” echoed junior pitcher Alexis Devers whose Liberty High School in Peoria, Arizona, rests less than an hour away from Red Mountain High School where the Coyotes trained.

“The growth we saw from the first day of practice to the last day is just incredible. We compared our film from scrimmages and situations from day one to the last day and the difference was night and day. Just being able to be comfortable again and being outside was a dream.”

Red Mountain, as some may recall, is the high school field of Alyssa Fernandez, USD’s all-Summit second baseman who graduated last May. It offered two fields for the Coyotes to compete so the team could take batting practice on one field and work on other drills on the other. Fernandez, who now coaches in the area, dropped by for a visit as did alumna Dustie Durham, an all-region performer from the Phoenix area who has obtained her EMT license since May.

“The DakotaDome is a great place to train, but with the current configuration and the ongoing renovations, it is difficult to practice real game applications,” said Wagner. “The sport of softball requires space and is usually played outside. It is a no brainer for us to have a spring training trip.

“There is a reason 15 Major League Baseball teams travel to Arizona for spring training. It affords the weather to play softball as it is played at the NCAA level. We are so fortunate and thankful for the opportunity. It has truly enhanced our student-athlete’s experience and our ability to train for the upcoming season.”

The team arrived on Monday, the sixth, and opened with a team meal at the house the team stayed in. Practices were held Tuesday through Friday before the team returned to campus on Saturday ahead of the start of the new semester.

A typical day started with breakfast served up by Caleb Heim, the team’s strength and conditioning coach, before heading for the field at 7:30 a.m. Morning sessions included hitting and defensive drills followed by a team defensive session. The afternoon session focused more on situations like bunt defense and other full team work. A mid-afternoon break included a trip to Jamba Juice one day. A lifting or running session, followed by some scrimmage work preceded evening dinners.

If those seem like long days, they were.

“When we ran, it felt good,” said Devers.

“Lifting was my favorite part of the day,” added Wobken.

The trip followed a 2-3 week break for the Coyotes through the holidays. Both players, who have grown accustomed to the ails of first-week practices, spent a majority of their time focusing on staying in shape. That said, it was perhaps the last trip away before the team dives into a schedule that starts Feb. 7 and goes nearly every weekend up until the Summit League Tournament in early May.

The team’s first event is five games at Northern Iowa’s Doc Halverson Tournament in Cedar Falls, and there’s little doubt amongst the players that this opening trip to Arizona will have the Coyotes in a better position to start their season. Devers summed it up this way:

“We were all sitting there after our week in Arizona, and yes, you’re tired, yes, your body hurts and you might feel old, but at the same time, we got so much accomplished in such a short amount of time. This is something that even our younger classes are hoping we can do again next year.”