Sixty-two strikeouts. Forty-four hits. Thirty-eight runs. Fifteen players. Four out of five wins. One goal: get to playoffs.

Surpassing the number of victories from last year’s season in a matter of weeks, the notoriously cheerful Softball team has traded in their pom-poms for continuous wins and torn uniforms (as proof). Defeating fierce competitors such as Brentwood, Lennox Academy, and Archer, the softball players have been relentlessly fighting for their chance to see their names engrained on a blue banner in the beloved Pavilion.

Down an assistant coach, the Softball team has needed to rely on their teammates more to guide and coach them. Sophomore and Co-Captain of the team, Devin Waddell, has delightfully observed this mutual aid take place, beaming with “extreme pride of the team’s work ethic and passion to succeed. We’ve already proven ourselves to each other, but as the season develops, Marymount softball is really going to establish a name for itself division-wide.” She further notes that “this is the dream team” and that Marymount better “start making room for that banner!”

Regardless of whether or not a new piece of linen will find a home in Pavilion at the end of the season, the Softball team has made tremendous strides. If one is lucky enough, they can see the Softballers in action throughout campus as soon as the clock strikes three-thirty: at the batting cage crushing softballs as soon as they exit the pitching machine, at the tennis courts transferring balls from one teammate’s hand to another’s glove in mere seconds, at the driving range capturing bases by method of running or sliding (my personal favorite).

However, nothing beats the energy during the afternoon games, when the sun begins to set and the crack of Mika Jeffries’ bat can be heard from miles away as she scores a triple and moves Sophie Knepper and Drew Biernot home. Junior Cassidy Capata expresses that “the feeling of catching the ball and tagging someone out at first is indescribable; but I also know that if I miss, my teammates will always have my back and having that kind of support system is pretty unbelievable.”

I am extremely proud to call these girls my teammates and to have had such a successful season so far. While I know there will be bumpy times ahead of us, as long as we keep on chanting, I know we will be alright.

To the softies: let’s give this season everything we’ve got.

And to our future opponents: good luck, you’re going to need it.