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After a one-win season last year, Steamboat Springs High School senior softball player Darcy Hornstein has been able to put things into perspective.

She knows that the Sailors more than likely won't win a state championship this year. But, from last year's failures, Hornstein said she has learned a valuable lesson heading into this year, on and off the field.

"On the field, you have to let the little things go," Hornstein said. "If you make a mistake you have to move past them. Off the field, the team has to be close knit."

Hornstein is expected to be one of the senior leaders for this year's Sailors team, which open the season with a doubleheader at 11 a.m. Saturday against Delta at Vanatta Field at Howelsen Hill.

"I just want to have fun," Hornstein said prior to Thursday's practice. "I want to learn all I can and gain experience for college ball."

Steamboat and Hornstein might have the perfect coach to help grow the program.

Dan Swanson takes over a program that has seen its struggles in recent years.

Swanson spent eight years coaching the Buckaroos, a high-level fastpitch softball team out of Fort Collins.

"It was highly competitive," said Swanson, whose daughter Britt played Division I softball and also will help with the program. "They played all over the country."

Swanson acknowledged the level of play at Steamboat is nowhere near what he was used to in Fort Collins.

But that's something Swanson is embracing.

"The goal is just to learn a lot," Swanson said. "I want to get the girls to play together. We're going to get better and I'd like to win some games."

Swanson, who works at the Steamboat Ski Area, said when he was coaching highly competitive softball, it always was just a matter of tweaking little things. At Steamboat - where some of the girls never have played the game - Swanson said it's been about teaching the basics.

"He's helped me, very much so," said Hornstein, who is expected to be the team's top pitcher. "Conditioning wise and just the basic knowledge of pitching."

Although Swanson wasn't sure about many of the other teams in Steamboat's league, he said he isn't just looking at this year.

"The girls will get experience and learn a lot," he said. "Coming back, my big goal is to grow the program and make it better."