As they enter their much-anticipated spring sports season, WA Varsity Softball players, new and old, have been taking to the practice fields with bats, balls, and gloves looking to better their skills.

This year, the team hopes to continue what it started last year and once again head for the DCL title. Everyone is working hard to make it happen.

Softball coach and facility member Gina Mustoe will be overseeing the team this season.

“I was pleasantly surprised at the tryout. You can definitely see [the team put in work] over the offseason,” Mustoe said.

This will be their first full season since the pandemic started and the team is looking to come back better than ever. Softball, like many other sports, lost its 2020 season and was only able to play 15 games in 2021, less than the usual 20-30-plus of previous seasons. 

Although the softball team had to deal with this shortened season, the pandemic surprisingly seemed to have been more of a help than a hindrance. With help from their talented lineup and the withdrawal of several competitive schools who were not able to field teams due to the pandemic last season, the team was able to amass a 13-2 record and a DCL win. 

“Quite a few of the schools that we played last year had lower player counts than expected,” Mustoe said. “People didn’t go out for the sport because of COVID and decided to take a year off.”

This upcoming season, WA Softball will also be dealing with the loss of several of last year’s varsity seniors who led the team. Last year’s team captain and pitcher Emily Strzegowski, along with four other players from last year’s starting varsity lineup, have graduated and are no longer with the team.

Many current players have been putting in the work in order to fill in these gaps; Captians April Collamore and Ragini Kannan have been running captains’ practices since mid-January to get the team prepared for the season. Collamore believes these efforts have been paying off. 

“In general, we’re a pretty hard-hitting team. We have a good balance around the field. But I think our biggest thing is camaraderie on the team. We all know each other really well,” Collamore said. 

According to Mustoe, the commitment and dedication they have had as they prepare for the season built an impressive sense of momentum. However, that doesn’t mean the road ahead is going to be easy.

Facing their first challenges last week, the team took on two scrimmages, losing to Shrewsbury on March 26 and tying Newton North on March 30.

“Overall [the game]was pretty good although it started a little rough. [We] made some errors in the field. We were down by eight at one point and by the end had a big rally worked back up to a tie eight to eight. So that was cool to see,” Collamore said in regards to the Newton North game. 

In general, Mustoe has an optimistic outlook on this upcoming season and hopes more fans will come out to support the team. 

“I’m looking forward to the competition, and to see what the girls are made of,” Mustoe said.

The team will kick off their season on Wednesday, Apr. 6 against Andover.