By THOMAS EGAN
The girls softball team began this season with a big start matched by even bigger expectations.
“We have had a great start. We struggled against West Orange but after that we really came together,” senior Virginia Pender, starting pitcher, said.
Pender’s record is 5-1 in eight games, with 57 strikeouts and 11 runs scored against her. Along with Laura Gavern, who is 2-0 with 14 innings pitched and 18 strikeouts. Pender has helped the team acheive an overall 10-3 record.
“We work really hard during practice everyday, and we hit our spots,” junior pitcher Laura Gavern said. “We have great team chemistry and pitching which translates into wins.”
In the first thirteen games of the season, the girls have outscored their opponents 76-27, including a 17-0 blowout against Oak Ridge.
“In the game against Oak Ridge, we all came together as one and played as a team, not individually,” junior Brandy Eaton said.
Eaton has six runs batted in, along with a .278 batting average and four singles and a triple.
The girls are third in the district behind Timber Creek and East River. Head coach Robin Bradford created a difficult schedule with games against both Timber Creek and East River to prepare the team for difficult games in the future.
“I purposefully picked strong teams to play in preparation for the playoffs, so I expect the rest of our schedule to be pretty difficult,” Bradford said.
Their first loss came against West Orange, 3-8, whom they have two games against this season.
“We made some key physical and mental mistakes,” Bradford said.
The one strength that the girls excell in is their defense, which has five shutouts this season.
“We have such a strong defense because we have great pitchers, catchers and a very strong bench,” junior Amanda Welsh said.
Welsh has three singles and four RBI’s matched with a batting average of .333.
The team has had a, winning season and hopes to finish as strongly as they started, winning districts and going to regionals.
“I think that we’ll come together and do very well in districts,” Pender said. “I have high hopes for the rest of the season. I think that we’ll make it to regionals.”