After winning the Class 2A Regional Tournament, the Goshen Eagles have set their sights on state.

Goshen softball head coach Amy Warrick said the Eagles had made it to the big show five years running, but this year she says they want more than to have just made it.

“We’ve been here five times,” Warrick said. “And, we’ve been blessed enough to be here again. We’re not just going there to go. We want to go there and with a purpose. We’re not just happy to be there, we want to do something. We are still remaining very focused. We were glad and proud with how we played at regionals, but we are not done yet.”

The Eagles have had a pretty solid season, and Warrick has ensured the girls have seen pitchers from different regions and who throw differently than most. Warrick said it was an attempt to get the girls comfortable with anything that is thrown at them.

The Eagles had 33 runs over the course of their three regional games, and while Warrick says it was a great outing for the team, they still want more.

“I told them it is and I was proud, but that was kind of done,” Warrick said. “I was proud of the fact that they weren’t afraid of the pitchers. They were really good pitchers, but we’re not going to be scare by a pithcer. We didn’t play all these teams at the upper level to be afraid of anyone.”

Earlier in the season, the Eagles switched up their defense, and Warrick said the last week of practice has been focused on tightening up that defense and making sure all of the girls were playing fundamentally-sound softball.

“We changed the defense in the beginning of the season, so we’ve been working on the little things making sure we’re doing everything fundamentally,” Warrick said. “We’re trying to make sure that we are communicating. We’re doing the same things we’ve been doing, but we’re trying to clean it up.”

Warrick said the girls have kept up enthusiasm over the last week despite having 6 a.m. workouts, which Warrick said was the team’s way of preparing themselves for the early morning game come Friday.

“We’ve done this for the last few years and it seems to work out,” Warrick said. “They are kind of adjusted to the morning when it comes time to play. They start to understand that it’s important for us to hit the ball that early in the morning, and they can see what it’s like to actually get up and get moving that early in the day.”

The Eagles are set to face off with Gatson High School out of Gadsden at 9 a.m. Friday morning. Warrick said she hopes the fan base Goshen has would also travel to Lagoon Park Friday to support their girls.

“It was such a great crowd at regionals, and that really means a lot for the girls for the community to come out and support us,” Warrick said. “We have a lot of great supporters. That means a lot to them to know that they are playing for their community and their school. I hope they’ll go and play for them and let them know who Goshen is.”