By Jasmine Born, Staff Writer
A strong team is not defined by the number of wins racked up at the end of the season, but instead by the support and improvement that is only formed by establishing a closely knit alliance willing to put in the work; and River Hill’s softball teams have certainly succeeded in doing so this season.
With multiple practices and games per week these players are certainly worked to the bone, but their coaches Ms. Rosenbaum, Mr. Roo, and Ms. Glasscock keep the players’ health and wellbeing in mind. Junior and second year varsity player, Sarah Le, inputs that the coaches “try to keep it very focused [at practices] but not too intense because most likely we have games the rest of the week so they want us to rest well.”
Freshman and junior varsity member, Charlotte Zatkowski, also voices her appreciation for the work of her coaches as she declares they have “helped us a lot to become a better team, been so supportive of everyone, and have connected with everyone differently.”
Sarah Le remarked on the “intense competitiveness” of the River Hill softball team and how it created an environment that balanced positivity and competition well.
Sarah’s softball experience consisted of 6 years of RECC and 3 summers of travel ball, but she preferred her RECC team because of its low pressure environment compared to her travel team where she felt inexperienced and stressed. Sarah mentioned, “I had that same negative feeling my first year of softball at River hill because everyone on the team had been playing intense travel since they could walk. However, because there were some really nice people on the team I was able to change my outlook on the team and realize that the intense competitiveness I feel from this team is very similar to my RECC teams, which was something that I missed.”
This close-knit feeling between teammates has remained part of the softball environment this year as its players continue to uplift each other for each improvement and win–even those of its members that are brand new to softball. Freshman and junior varsity player, Rebekah Santos, who has experience outside of high school, gives props to her teammates that are newer to the sport.
Rebekah says, “This season we started off with a lot of unsure players and some who have never even touched a softball before, and as of right now we have created a team full of impressive and improving women who are extremely talented and hard working.”
Both the coaches and the players play a large role in keeping the team’s heads high. Sarah speaks on how her team was given an inspiring underdog speech by the coaches to relieve the pressure of playing against Reservoir High School, who “is known for having one of the best softball programs in the county,” according to Sarah, and she says the game against them proved to be “very good and exciting,” despite their loss.
Rebekah remained optimistic despite the junior varsity team’s loss against Reservoir and emphasized “we more than doubled the amount of hits the other team had which was definitely a win for us!…We are constantly learning about ourselves as players, how to improve personally and as a team each game and practice.” This is the energy that makes River Hill’s softball teams strong.
Win or lose, the softball teams continue to make great memories.
Rebekah voices, “I have lots of memories with the team like our karaoke parties on the bus and pasta parties, as well as making new inside jokes and drawing with eye black on each other. We have created a very nice family and I am so happy to get to play with them!”
Sarah recounts “when Ms. Burchick and Ms. Hazzard were assistant coaches [and] would bring out buckets and drumsticks for us to use in the dugout during games. It was so much fun but also very loud and we were yelled at often by the umpires to shut up.”
Beyond the coaches and players, junior Alex Johnson offers her share to the varsity team as team manager. Due to an injury, Alex cannot play but she works hard to help the team succeed regardless. She assists in warming up the players at practices and helps with the score book which she notes “is really complicated, you should see it. You have to do a bunch of little statistic things–it’s really weird.”
River Hill’s softball continues its legacy in forming amazing bonds between players and a team like that will never lose in the long run–or the home run, rather?