The varsity softball team fought hard in their first home game of the season on Saturday, March 30th, against the Maine West Warriors. The game went into extra innings and ended with a loss of 7-6 for the girls.
Leyden is ranked as a Powerade Fab 50 team in the nation, and the pressure to live up to the rank began to sink in for the Leyden softball girls.
“I was definitely nervous with all of the new people on the team, but we came out strong,” senior and captain Michelle Sansone said.
The team lost nine seniors last year which left them with many new spots to fill. With only 6 returning varsity players, the team now has some younger players including three sophomores and even a freshman, Kendall Duwal.
“My first game [on varsity] was fun and worth it. I learned many ways to improve my game,” Duwal said.
Because the team is young they have a long way to go with older and more advanced teams, but they are a “strong” team who are hoping to make it to or even go further than last year.
Last year the varsity team made it all the way to sectionals, but fell short against Trinity High School.
The highlight of Saturday’s opening game was when junior Kelly Bjorvik made a mind blowing slide head first into first base only to find herself safe.
In the beginning of the game the girls started out a little rough offensively yet strong defensively, but that began to change as the game went on.
Senior captain Denise Moran said, “we need to come out stronger on defense and keep up our hitting.”
The varsity softball girls have a tough schedule this year with their usual 30 plus games along with having an upcoming game on Monday, April 8th against a team from Damonte Ranch, Nevada, a Powerade Fab Fifty team from last year.
The next home game will be today at 4:45 pm against Barrington.
jackin jain • May 3, 2013 at 10:23 am
I like how girls are doing hard work. Keep up girls…. GO EAGLES!