Softball Finishes One Game Over .500

Girls’ varsity softball had a 9-8 season, which left both coaches and players with many good memories and experiences.Though the season started out with three consecutive canceled games due to rain, and Big Red did not win either the Big East Tournament or E/a, the girls made the best of their season, impressing both themselves and the coaches.“E/a was weird, because we thought the season was over, but then it wasn’t,” prep Lucy Knox said. “They rescheduled our game against Andover to the Wednesday after we were rained out.”Regardless of scheduling mishaps, the girls made goals throughout the season and accomplished them.“Our big team goal was to break the .500 record, and we did it,” Knox said. The girls nished with a .529 record.Another goal the team had was to defeat Tabor Acad- emy, especially after losing to the team four times in the 2012 season and another time earlier in the 2013 season. Again, the girls accomplished this goal, defeating Tabor 13-12 in eight innings.

“The high point of the season was definitely the win against Tabor,” upper Weilin Chan said.

Coach Nancy Thompson agreed. “It was a true team victory and one of my proudest moments as a coach in all of the seasons that I have coached here,” she said.The game began with a 9-0 de cit, though, and hopes for a good outcome were low. But, lower Azniv Nalban- dian’s grand slam sparked the girls’ comeback. “We were one run from losing by the mercy rule and came back to win,” Thompson said..“I loved winning against Tabor this year,” upper Nina Meyers said. “That game was a real testament to the heart and the character of every girl on the team.”Certain girls stood out this year. Captains Ashley Met- calf and Paula Gaither did an impressive job of leading the

team this season. “Our captains did a great job as captains keeping us uni ed and focused as a team,” Meyers said. Thompson agreed. “Ashley Metcalf and Paula Gaitherwere fantastic captains and did an amazing job of leading this team,” she said.Thompson also praised Nalbandian. “Individually, our most improved player is Az. This was her rst year playing. She started out the season really not knowing much about the game,” she said.Nalbandian then improved rapidly during the course of ten weeks. “She nished the season with over .400 batting average, over .700 slugging percentage, and three home runs,” Thompson said.Chan spoke about overall team improvement as well. “As a team, I think our biggest improvement is the com- munication we have with each other, both on and off theeld,” she said. “Another one of our team goals was to never have silence on the eld, and especially towards the end of the season, we were always full of energy and supporting one another during games,” she said.The team also improved greatly in defensive play. “It is an area that we have struggled some in the past, but we came a long way this year,” Thompson said. “I think a key to that was that we did not have a lot of movement as far as positioning, so the girls got to know there positions well and became very comfortable in those positions.”Coach Thompson also pushed the girls to work on their batting. “Coach really wanted to focus on hitting this year, so we spent most of our practices doing drills and hitting off the machine,” Chan said. “All the practice seemed to have paid off, because my hitting improved a lot from the past two seasons.”Thompson also appreciated the good fortune of hav- ing a full team. “We did a great job of staying healthy this year,” she said. “The girls lifted with Coach Sweet every Monday at the end of practice, and we saw the bene ts at the plate – seven team home runs - and also in stamina and injury prevention.”The girls made connections outside of practice, as well. “We also bonded a lot off the eld, hanging out after

Ida Piyale/The Exonian games and practice,” Chan said. “I think this really helped our playing, since we felt so much closer to each other.” Meyers, who was new to the team this year, agreed. “I was just so happy to be a part of this team,” she said. “This was my rst year on the team, and I'm so glad that I made the switch. This is a very talented team with great coaches.”Thompson finished the season incredibly pleased with the girls’ dynamic. “This was one of my favorite teams this year. The chemistry was really special and they were a lot of fun to work with,” she said.She is also looking forward to next year and what is come. “We are only graduating two seniors, and we have a very good recruiting class coming in for next year, so we should be pretty strong next year,” she said.Though the season had its ups and downs, the girls weathered the season superbly.“Even though we had some tough losses and the tournament did not go our way, we learned from it and continued to play our game the best we could,” Meyers said. “That's all an athlete could ever ask for.”