By Caroline Casey
Section Editor

With an overall record of 14-5 and an undefeated MAPL record, the varsity softball team celebrated another successful season.

Led by starting pitcher Carly Hattman ’16 and strong offensive hits from Melissa Bollmeyer ’14 and Shannon Kortmann ’13, the team defeated Blair 4-3 on May 10 to secure its unbeaten regular season league record.

Additionally, the Falcons captured the NJISAA Prep A championship title with a 5-3 victory over perennial rival Hun at home on May 17. Although Hun took a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning, Hattman’s pitching and a two-run double from Olivia Bundschuh ’14 sealed the victory.

“Carly settled down there and wound up pitching a heck of a game,” head coach Tim O’Reilly said [as quoted on peddie.org]. “She did what she had to do and did a great job of handling their best hitters.”

Despite having fewer players and less competition than its varsity counterpart this season, with only two official games, the JV softball team had no shortage in improvement.

“Our season was primarily dedicated to skill-building and learning how to play softball intelligently,” head coach Nicholas Guilbert said. The team worked on their infield and outfield skills in practice, learning the rules of the game as well as the mechanical skills necessary to play.

“I think our team was happiest during the games. We worked together by cheering each other on and supporting the team during every second of the game,” Emily Fu ’15 said. “We all improved significantly over the weeks, whether it [was in our] pitching, throwing, catching, running, batting or just being a team player in general.”

Guilbert noticed improvement in a number of girls on the team, including Senyte Pierce ’15, Tara Rojas-Scott ’16 and team captain Morgan Nitti ’16. He also noted the “rapid development of Rajae McClinek [’16] and Emily Fu in softball skills.”