Carlos Soto has been coaching baseball and softball for many years. He coached baseball for Reston Little League and Herndon/Reston Babe Ruth. He also coached Reston Herndon Youth Softball.

After multiple years of working with younger children, he decided to coach at South Lakes.

“Most of the players from last year’s graduating class in the softball program were kids I began coaching as eight-year-olds,” said Soto. “Reston is my home. This is where I am supposed to be.”

Since then, Soto has been a part of the the South Lakes softball team for six years. During the first season, he was assistant varsity coach, but was then promoted to head Junior Varsity coach for the next five years. Now, he is getting the opportunity to go even further and coach the Varsity team.

Coach Soto’s goals and expectations to those participating are steep.

“I have very high expectations from both the Varsity and JV teams this spring,” said Soto. “We have experience and talent returning from last years teams and the incoming freshman are going to be a great addition to the program.”

He believes that the girls he worked with last year as freshman will be more experienced and better players.

“The program had a very talented freshman class last year who now have a full season of high school softball under their belts,” said Soto.

With hopes high, Soto has a strategy to help the team perform their greatest on the field.

“We will be taking advantage of the green day practices. It is a great opportunity to work with the returning players and get to know the freshman class.”

Even though spring is not near, Coach is looking forward to the off season and bringing the players together.

“I am really looking forward to getting started with our off season program,” said Soto. “I have always told our players that every time you are on the field is an opportunity to get better.”