With uncertainty throughout, especially in the beginning of the 2020 high school softball season, the varsity softball athletes have been training hard  to get to where they are today. 

With outstanding performances from pitchers Hannah Gore (12), Haley Blumberg (11) and Kelsey Wiggins (9), the team was able to strike out hitters easier than ever before. Lead-off batters like Taylor White (10) and Reese Hunter (11) also managed to help the team advance in a positive way as the season went on.

 Altogether, the team has looked tremendously strong this season with a record of 12-6-1. The softball team this year has certainly kept crowds excited especially since this is the first time the team has made it to state since 2010. 

A lot of the members of this softball team this season are underclassmen making the team seem less intimidating. These athletes have proved all audiences very wrong. However, the athletes are not the only new faces to the team. 

With a new head coach, the team has had to settle in with some new ideas and different training techniques, but they have undeniably followed these new guidelines and rules. Matthew McCarthy, the former Centennial softball coach, is now coaching the Roswell girls and teaches in the health department.

 The girls have been excited to see his coaching skills throughout the season and (Kelsey Wiggins (9) said that “he makes practice fun and more enjoyable even when it’s not either of those things at times”.

 A new coaching staff leads to many new opportunities, and this year those opportunities have been full of excitement and anticipation. With assistant coaches Erin Vickery and Kayleigh Briant, who is also new to the team, have helped the team train hard this season as well. The coaches have been seemingly proud this year of the girls and all of their hard work. 

With restrictions due to Covid, which have upset many of the girls, all three of these wonderful coaches have made the sport more pleasurable and exciting which is one of the primary reasons they have made it into the state tournament this year. It all began when the girls beat Woodstock in a three-game series to advance to the region tournament. By getting into the region tournament, they automatically advanced to state. They then played Etowah and lost in the first close game of the region tournament. Next, they played Milton and lost again. Starting Tuesday October 20th, the girls will begin playing in the State Tournament against Mountain View in another three-game series. If the girls win this series, they will advance to round two of the tournament.

Since a lot of the girls are close in age and have a lot in common, they have grown very close over this past season. Having some of your closest friends while playing a sport you love is undeniably the best feeling to have. It makes the practices easier, the games more fun, and truly makes winning easier. Junior, Hannah Zdancewicz says, “I am thrilled to be a member of this incredible team of girls! We have all poured our hearts into this season and it has absolutely paid off! Everyone has a love of the game and we all have pushed each other to stay positive and fight. This year has been so difficult, but I think that has brought us so much closer- it made us so much more determined to get everything out of this season!”