The ideal team is an even mixture of experienced players and the youngsters waiting to take over for those players in the future.

The Gophers softball team doesn’t have that mix. Minnesota has three seniors and two juniors on its 18-player roster.

“You hoped to have a little bit more of a balanced roster, and I think we will going forward,” head coach Jessica Allister said. “But youth has some positives, too. The enthusiasm, the excitement — it brings a lot of good things.”

The early indication is that Minnesota’s offense, like last year, will be led by its underclassmen.

The Gophers hit a wall after a hot start last season, but Allister said that served as a learning experience for the entire team. She said she doesn’t expect the team to hit a wall this year.

“We started off hot, and we were a young team,” sophomore Kaitlyn Richardson said. “The games that challenged us were the games that we were supposed to win. … We just needed to learn to be mentally checked into every single game.”

Sophomore Tyler Walker and Richardson led the team in batting average last season as freshmen.

Richardson has picked up where she left off, batting .500 with two home runs and six RBIs in the opening weekend of play.

“I’m very comfortable — I felt great this past weekend,” Richardson said. “I think we’re going to grow from last weekend.”

Both Allister and Walker said having so many youthful players means veteran leadership takes on another dimension of importance.

But Walker called the team’s youth a “good thing.”

“We have so much depth, and we are so young,” Walker said. “It’s awesome to see us younger kids stepping up and competing like we’re seniors.”