The season began with the softball team facing off against Mohawk on March 27. Last year, Mohawk was one of the final eight teams remaining in the playoffs, meaning Freedom would have to step up their game to obtain a win. This game ended by the sixth inning, with a loss for Freedom, the score 11-0, and on April 15, their second game against this team was cancelled.
“Our first game was a little rocky. It was against the number one team in our section last year,” Sophomore Jodie Willis said.
The team played on April 1 against Beaver at home, and then against Laurel on April 2. Both games resulted in a loss. However, these games lasted until the seventh innings, with scores of 20-2 against Beaver and 9-1 against Laurel.
In high school softball, the games play a little differently from the normal ball game, with there only being seven innings. As well as this, Coach Bill Boggs rotates the team captain each game, letting two different players take leadership and gain experience.
Though rescheduled, the Riverside and Quaker Valley games were cancelled due to weather conditions.
After the succession of cancellations, the softball team was finally able to start the season.
“…[it’s] good to get all the girls on the field…It’s nice to see how we all work together,” Willis said.
Junior Carley Schroeder began her third year on the team. She agrees that the season started rough, “[but] after the first two games I think we improved.” Although her first year on the high school team, Freshman Breanna Karns thinks also feels that the team has improved since the start of the season.
“We have definitely improved. We had very little softball knowledge; now we have a lot more,” Karns said.
She feels that Boggs is a big aspect to the team’s accomplishments in the way that he teaches the girls more about the rules and “tells more about [game-like] situations and helps with more drills,” Karns said.
According to Karns, Boggs taught brought a new and helpful drill to practices, called “Infield, Outfield.” Boggs hits ground or fly balls from the batter’s box and the girls must be prepared to handle whatever comes their way.
Despite the team’s losses, the team has still accomplished victories in its own sense. According to Boggs, Schroeder pitched “five walks and two strikeouts” during their first game. Willis nearly hit a home run with the ball making it all the way to the fence during the Beaver Falls game. In their game against Laurel, the team made it through all the innings without getting cut short.
Even though the team believes the season started out rough, Freshman Destiny Ebert, first year starter on the high school team, thinks that they are already “improving a lot” on their teamwork and performance in games.
Sophomore Caitlin Shaffer affirms that statement, believing they are already playing “a lot better than last year.” According the Shaffer, the team trusts each other more, and that last year “no one really worked as a team…No one really talked to each other; we went in our little groups.”
The softball team continued their season with several more games all in a row on April 9 against Beaver Falls, April 10 against New Brighton, April 11 against Aliquippa and April 12 against Riverside, along with two more games again against Laurel and Mohawk, which all ended in losses as well.