By Mark Seraydarian
For a team Coach Terry Elledge deemed âyoung and inexperienced,â there were some highlights for girlsâ softball, including Christina Cavanaughâs â10 no-hitter against Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy on April 15. A 15-0 shutout victory over Greenhill High School, a team from Dallas, Texas, on March 6 in the teamâs third game of the season was also especially sweet, according to members of the team.
Despite Julie Fernandezâs â08 .517 batting average and six home runs, the team struggled for the most part, finishing with an 8-18 overall record and a 3-7 league record.
The Lehigh University-bound Fernandez completed the season as the teamâs best hitter in almost every statistical category, including batting average, home runs, runs batted in, and runs scored.
Cavanaugh and Sarah Enriquez â11 were the two starting pitchers for the team. Although they struggled at times throughout the season, the two young starters can only gain from more experience and continue to contribute in the next few years.
âThe pitching staff is going to be really solid next year,â Fernandez said.
âWith Christina [Cavanaugh] coming back as a junior and with Sarah [Enriquez] getting her freshman year under her belt, theyâre both going to come back more experienced and ready to pitch for next year.â
After a three-game winning streak culminating in a win over Louisville, the team finished the year with three consecutives losses. It marked the end of long and productive high school careers for seniors Laurie Schleimer, Stephanie Da Silva and Fernandez.
âThe end was sad because I spent so much time with the team,â Laurie Schleimer â08 said.
âAll the seniors were so close on and off the field. We were such a young team this year, thereâs so much potential for the next few years. Theyâre going to get a lot better. Hopefully theyâll be able to get a JV team back.â
