The Oakdale Lady Mustangs golf team welcomed the defending champion East Union Lancers to the always daunting Oakdale Golf Country Club on Aug. 28 for an early season preview of what both teams bring to the greens.

East Union has had a strangle hold on the Valley Oak League championship over recent memory, giving the Lady Mustangs an inside glimpse at arguably the league’s front-running favorite.

Oakdale coach Lee McGhee has surrendered the reins temporarily to new head coach Jeremy Fields while he (McGhee) is welcoming the newest addition to his family.

Fields has embraced the role with the young Lady Mustangs and took the time at the scrimmage to help himself get more acquainted with the squad.

“That was one of my first experiences watching the flow of a match,” Fields said. “So afterwards we were just comparing their first match (a scrimmage with Escalon) to their match with East Union.

“A lot of the girls had improved their scores over the two matches.”

Oakdale will get an immediate opportunity to improve their game, with a full schedule this week that includes a home match against Lathrop (Sept. 2) and a VOL battle with East Union (Sept. 3).

Unlike the other fall sports programs the Lady Mustangs will be entering into VOL action early on, making the first few weeks of action that much more important.

“Right now it’s just about getting improvements and getting comfortable,” Fields said. “We just want them hitting the ball and trying to get some consistent contact.

“We don’t want them to worry too much about their scores, but just about getting good swings and establishing good habits.”