One of winter's lingering gifts? The sun-hardened snowbanks lining the fields surrounding Wiscasset High School.

Where normally teams would be practicing in late-March or early April, this year teams have had to wait for the vestiges of winter 2015 to melt away.

No problem, said Wiscasset High School softball coach Glenn Powers.

While the team wasn't able to take the field until Monday, April 13, the Wolverines have a head-start from last year, when Powers was a new coach. Now, what the team has lacked in outside training, it makes up for with experience and expectations, Powers said.

“I think this should be a pretty good year,” he said. “(Monday) is actually our first day outside. We still have some snow in the outfield, but it's good just to be outside; to finally have some BP outside.”

Powers said the team had to learn his system a year ago, and had to learn to trust him, while this year there's a familiarity between coach and team.

“Last year, they were getting used to (the system),” he said. “This year, there's more cohesion. They trust me so we're already on the same page.”

Powers said that while the team lost several seniors — including its ace, Abby Dunn, and backstop Brianna Goud — there are some young players to keep an eye on.

“We have three returning seniors, no pitchers, but we do have a freshman pitcher who's pitched well,” Powers said.

Those three seniors (Tylan Onorato, Kayla Gordon and Charlene Reed) form the core of Wiscasset's strength, Powers said.

“Our infield with Kayla, Tylan and Charley should be excellent,” he said.

Eventually, the team will need to find a replacement for Dunn on the mound, Powers said. Two early candidates include the freshman August Moore and Onorato.

“We should be able to start off well with our infield defense,” he said. “The hope is that August gets comfortable and throws consistently and can start some games, and Tylan has really come along.”

Powers said the hard-throwing Onorato features live stuff that could help make the transition from the infield to the pitching mound.

Powers said he is trying different players behind the plate, where Goud played a season ago.

Wiscasset went 2-14 a year ago, and like the boys team, played a full Class C schedule but missed the playoffs by one spot. Again scheduled to take on Western Class C opponents, Wiscasset will have to compete against larger schools in the conference.

That is, as soon as the snow's gone from the outfield.