On Sunday, April 30, the softball team officially closed their season with their end of the year banquet. Both the JV and varsity teams brought their families to celebrate the end of a fantastic season. For the third year  in a row, the banquet was held at  Avery Ranch Golf Club, where pasta, salad, and breadsticks were served. The event started at 6p.m., but many of the girls showed up early to take pictures together.

“Being able to get dressed up and take pictures with my teammates is really fun and a great way to end the season. We took a lot of pictures that were both serious and funny,” Meaghan Hendricks ‘18 said.

After all of the picture were taken, the real festivities began. The first order of business was to vote in a new booster club committee. After, each coach talked about the highlights of this season as well as the past four seasons. Up next was the JV participation and team voted awards. Natalie O’Connor ‘20 won the MVP award and Olivia Meyers ‘20 won the Warrior Heart award, a few of the many awards handed out to the JV team.

“It’s really an honor receiving this award because I know that it shows how much my peers think of me,” Olivia Meyers ‘20 said. “I also really appreciate all that the team has done, because I don’t think the award is just mine, it takes a team of effort to keep everyone happy and excited to play.”

After JV was finished being recognized, it was time for varsity to receive their awards. Lizzie Taylor ‘18 won Most Improved and Courtney Ogle ‘17 won Warrior Heart award.

“Winning the Most Improved Player of the Year makes every part of me feel accomplished,” Lizzie Taylor ‘18 said. “I’ve been working extremely hard these past three years to try to improve my skills and knowledge of the game, so that I could earn a starting spot on varsity, and now it’s all finally paid off. Not only did I gain self confidence from getting this award, but I alse realized that I made a significant contribution in helping my team, which is all I could hope for.”

To the close the night each senior was recognized by one of their peers that was in the program. Kind words were said about the impact of all the teammates who would be graduating. Finally, the seniors talked about what they learned with their time spent in the program and had the chance to thank the people that helped them through their softball journey.

“It was an emotional speech, but I was happy that I had the chance [to] thank and recognize all the people that made this season special,” Courtney Ogle ‘17 said.

Overall, it was a very bittersweet night filled with many emotions. It was sad to send off the seniors, but also filled the future of the program with hope.