For the past two seasons, things have been anything but easy for the Sammamish softball program.

As other KingCo squads at Juanita and Bellevue saw a talent boom that led to conference titles and state tournament appearances, the Totems often found themselves on the short end of lopsided outcomes.

Numbers were down – only nine players turned out for the program in 2011 – and despite an energetic coaching staff led by alum Jess Cabales and her husband Allen, the results on the field did not reflect the work going on behind the scenes.

“The toughest part for me was seeing the girls who wanted success so bad,” Cabales recalled. “And it wasn’t coming.”

But in 2013, with a host of excitable freshmen that have brought a rejuvenated outlook, the Totems are hoping to turn a corner.

Cabales said the stigma of recent seasons has not impacted this year’s group, which includes only one junior in Nikki Kerns-Kovac and a lone senior in Kasey Hormel. Seven of the team’s other nine varsity players are freshmen, each of whom Cabales and her husband have coached for several years in Bellevue East Little League along with their own daughters.

“I’ve been counting down the years until I had this group,” Cabales said. “They have been fun to work with, very coachable and they are talented.”

While they have fallen on hard times the past two seasons, Cabales is hoping this group can bring back some of the panache that took the Totems to the 3A state tournament from 2000-02 and again from 2005-2007 and earned a pair of third-place trophies in its final two tournaments.

2013 is the first time Sammamish has fielded a junior varsity team in several seasons (it includes a two players from Newport, which was unable to field a JV team) and Cabales said the entire tone of the program has shifted with the entrance of the 2016 class. As the prep squad struggled in recent years, Cabales’ Little League teams had great measures of success, including a near-miss at a World Series appearance.

“These freshmen are coming in with that experience and are finding what their role is as high school players,” she said. “Our returners have been in those lean years and understand where we come from and where we are going. The combination is what really makes it work.”

Through the first two weeks of the season, the returns are encouraging.

Along with a pair of blowout wins over Metro League foe Ingraham, Sammamish already owns a league win over Mercer Island and will conclude a rain-suspended game with Bellevue in a 7-7 tie.

Kerns-Kovac, who was injured early last season, has returned to the pitcher’s circle with a 2.26 ERA and has been helped by the work of freshman Maria Smith, who has given Cabales a second pitching option she didn’t have last year. Hormel is batting .500 and her younger sister, sophomore Andi, is setting the table in the leadoff spot.

“Last year, we went in thinking we would lose and just trying to have fun,” Kasey Hormel said. “Now, we still want to have fun, but also win and be competitive.”

The road to the postseason won’t be easy for the Totems, even in Class 2A.

Lake Washington, which currently leads the conference standings, is the other 2A school in KingCo and whichever finishes with a better regular season record will go to the District 1 tournament. Regardless of how high the other finishes in the standings, only one will make it to the postseason.

But with a youthful core and 10 of the team’s 11 varsity players set to return next year, Cabales has the program focused on long term growth as well.

For the underclassmen and coaching staff, the chance to send out Hormel with a playoff appearance or winning record is just as important.

“She is not only super-talented, she is really the glue that holds us all together,” Cabales said. “She deserves a lot.”

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