In one moment Monday, St. Aloysius softball coach Candice Reeder spent a flustered second trying to sort out the jersey numbers on a substitution. Later, she danced a little jig after one of her players hit a triple.

When the 10-4 loss to Hartfield Academy was finished, she stood in the rain with her players for the postgame speech as the dry infield dirt slowly turned into sticky mud.

Through it all, Reeder laughed and smiled. In a season that wasn’t supposed to be, when all of the carefully laid plans are going blooey and everything that can go wrong, is, it’s really all you can do.

“We just play the cards that are dealt. We try to do it with a smile on our face and know that this year is going to be a struggle. We’re going to persevere through whatever we have to,” Reeder said. “We are more worried about preparing for future seasons than our record for this season. We found out three days before the season started that we were going to actually be playing. This has all been a whirlwind of chaos. But the girls have been great. They’ve had a smile on their face and my experienced girls have stepped up and become leaders.”

After reaching the Class 1A quarterfinals as a member of the Mississippi High School Activities Association in May, Reeder and the Lady Flashes had intended to spend the fall restocking the roster and grooming new players to replace four departed starters.

Then, in late July, St. Al joined the Mississippi Association of Independent Schools. The MAIS plays its season in the fall instead of the spring, and the school’s affiliation switch was made official on the first day games could be played.

The 2 ½ weeks since have been a blur. A schedule consisting mostly of district games was thrown together. Jordan McDonald, who expected to have an entire offseason of pitching lessons and practice, was thrown into the fire as the team’s primary pitcher.

McDonald held Hartfield to four unearned runs through five innings Monday, then tired in the sixth. Hartfield scored six runs in the inning, including three straight on bases-loaded walks before McDonald gave way to Hannah Ashley.

“It’s really tough, because we don’t have any pitchers or anything. We’re all just having to step in and do whatever we can,” McDonald, a sophomore, said. “It was supposed to be me (pitching in the spring), but I still wasn’t really ready.”

Two more returning starters — outfielder Michelle Howington and third baseman Brantlee Richards — have gone down with injuries. Richards appeared to pull a muscle running the bases in the third inning Monday.

The Lady Flashes, who went 12-9-1 in the spring MHSAA season, have lost all three games they’ve played in the MAIS. The struggles weren’t unexpected, but the circumstances have led Reeder to promote a sunny attitude as they work through them.

“We’re very green. I’m just proud of them. They never give up and they keep a smile on their face. As long as they don’t ever give up on themselves, that’s all I ask of them. We’re just going to make the best of it,” Reeder said. “It was definitely a shock. The girls who were going to step up and pitch thought they were going to have an entire offseason. Some of them were going to get lessons. We were off for two or three months, and in that two or three months we lost five players. It was rough, but they’ve stepped up to the plate. I don’t expect to come out here as state champs. But I do expect for them to give me their all. As long as they do that, that’s all I care about.”

McDonald said the positive attitude has helped, and the losing streak hasn’t been totally devoid of highlights.

McDonald went 3-for-4 with a triple and two runs scored Monday, Brooklyn Richards had an RBI doubled and Ashley tripled and scored a run. After falling behind 10-2 following Hartfield’s big sixth inning, the Lady Flashes rallied for two runs in the bottom of the seventh and had two runners on when the game ended.

“We still have a lot of work to do, but it’s getting better,” McDonald said. “These next couple years are going to be a learning experience. We’re just going to have to work harder and have all the patience we can.”