Junior Amanda Merfalen’s heart pounds rapidly as she makes eye contact with the pitcher. As her teammate hits the ball into the gap Merfalen, standing on second base, awaits a hit to advance her onto home base. Filled with adrenaline, Merfalen rounds third and slides into home. The team is euphoric as they hear the roaring cheers coming from the crowd.
The Varsity Lady Falcon Softball team has had a difficult season thus far, with a record of 3-10. But, with the help of Head Coach Glen Wheeless, the team still strives for success despite their previous record.

“I think that our season is going pretty well for the obstacles that we’ve had to overcome. With up to four freshmen starting, we made leaps and bounds since the beginning of the season. We’ve surprised a lot of teams that thought that they could walk all over us. We’ve put up a fight and we don’t have any intention of backing down,” Merfalen said.
Practice is held after school every day for three hours. As a warm-up, the girls run, stretch, and practice throwing. Then Girls take their field positions, while the coach hits balls to both the infield and outfield. They also hit off tees and then practice batting.

“School ball has definitely taught me to manage my time better. Also, I have made many new friendships with my teammates. I am much more confident and happy person because of softball and I couldn’t choose a better sport,” sophomore Emily Staskin said.

Despite their losses, the team will not give up and has high hopes of ending their season with a win against Landstown on May 20.

“We are really starting to peak right now and we just need to keep climbing. So, I plan to continue to push everyone to the best of their ability. We’ve got so many freshmen this year. I know that everything we are doing is helping them to become better players. I hope that what I am doing now will not only lead us to a couple of wins at the end of this season but that it will carry into next year,” senior Keaton Poppe said.