The WMS Lady Warriors softball team faced adversity all season to come back and win the championship for the 2023 fall ball season.
Coach Maneri has returned for another season as the WMS softball coach. Maneri expressed that a theme of the year is that students are helping each other. He said, “every year [has] dynamic changes. It’s the constant change of the 8th graders leave and I think it’s nice that we have a couple 6th graders from last year already a year in so[they] understand what it’s about so its like [they] can help the new 7th graders that weren’t on the team last year understand the team better.”
One of the leaders of the team and 8th grader, Bobbi Jo Timinski explained how the team bounced back, “I think our season is going well, [we] had a couple rough games but I think we bounced back and won when we needed to win.”
Coach Maneri said he thinks a key to the season is batting. Maneri said, “As a whole I think we’re really good batting wise, and when the time comes and we need to score a run we do it.”
Before starting pitcher, Aubrey Petruccelli, steps on the mound, she calms herself down. She said, “I take a deep breath and I think of what my pitching coach tells me and the steps I have to do to get the ball perfect.”
Mr. Maneri explained how a team’s level doesnt matter and any day a team could be playing at their best. He said, “My mindset stays the same, at any given day a team could beat us and it doesn’t matter about a team’s skill level because all it takes is that team to be on its game.”
Timinski talked about how she tries to get small hits for the team. She said, “Just trying to make contact with the ball, seeing if we can hit it and see what happens.”
Angelina Summers, 7th grader, showed a positive attitude by saying the team will win the championship. She explained, “ I think the season is going pretty well; I think we could still do better and that we are going to make it to the championship and win it.” It turns out that Summers’s prediction was right
Isabella Roige explained where she thinks she played best. Roige explained how she knows her limits. She said, “I think I play best at second because I’m not good at longer throws so it’s easier to make the throw to first.”
Another testament to the teamwork that happens on the Lady Warriors is Camila Villegas Cuartas, who worked her way from being team manager last year to a regular starter this year. She said, “It’s pretty cool, I get to learn new things.”
Gracie Milevoi spoke about how the team battled back every time something happened. She said, “We made sure that when they scored some runs and we made some errors we bounced back from it and we kept a good mindset from the game.”
Milevoi also explained she ignored the other team. She explained, “I just focused on what I needed to do and did not focus on them.”
Maneri also talked about how the team was loud and had energy the whole game. He said, “I think it was a crucial part of it and going into the game Colonia thought they had us because they beat us twice and we came in with an energy level of the opposite where, [it was] like we beat them all season long and we just kept it going and I think us being so energetic threw them off their game.”
Angelina Summers, a 7th grader who made a great play in the outfield during the championship game, talked about if she doesn’t have the ball she’s always backing up. She explained, “Make sure to tuck your glove and also if I wasn’t able to get the ball back up the other person, [then they would have scored].”
Congratulations Warriors!
