Junior Ella Liberi started playing softball for a local recreation team around ten years ago. Now, she is the captain of Strath Haven’s Girls Softball Team.

“My dad played baseball in high school, he loves sports, and he sent me off to play for a local team,” Liberi said.

Liberi plays for a club outside Haven Softball called The Valley Forge Patriots. 

“A lot of the summer, I’ll travel around with my team, and a couple of girls from Strath Haven play with me on that team,” Liberi said.

One of her teammates for both the Patriots and Haven, junior Lilia Kochanowicz travels with Liberi and enjoys having Liberi’s company during tournaments and while at the hotel, 

“She will take charge when you need her, and she’s somebody you can talk to,” Kochanowicz said.“I actually throw with her every day, and we just talk about our day and all that. She’s a good person.” 

Assistant Coach Mr. Michael DeAngelo notices that Liberi has both playing skills and strong leadership and connection with her teammates. 

“My first impression of her was that she is a a true leader, girls definitely look up to her on and off the field,” he said. “The best part of her game is hitting, last game of the year, actually, she had a home run.” 

Liberi remembers a few special moments in her softball career. 

“[A special moment was] probably my first over-the-fence home run in a tournament bowl,” she said. “It’s a super cool experience to have that moment where you hit it over the fence and your whole team is cheering for you.” 

She also mentions a challenge she and other players face while playing, known as hitting slumps. Hitting slumps are when you have not got a hit for a while, and it becomes a bad streak. 

“It’s not a mechanic thing,” Liberi said. “It’s a mentality thing, and I’ve had a few of them in high school. I know players who’ve had them, too. It’s something that happens.” 

Liberi also remembers last year’s emotional senior night. 

“It’s just this moment where you know the seniors like walk back into the dugout and they come in and we’ll meet in the middle we all hug and we get all emotional and we walk off a dugout and she’s like our it’s our way of saying like, ‘Goodbye, thank you for everything you’ve done,’” she said. 

Liberi hopes she can help shape the future of the high school’s Varsity Softball Team by mentoring younger players and fostering teamwork. 

“We have a really young team right now– we have one senior, four juniors, three sophomores and about eight freshmen,” she said. “I want them [freshmen] to have an amazing four years in the program.”  

As a captain, she values the importance of teamwork and camaraderie.

“There’s no player who goes a whole season without making an error. It just doesn’t happen.  So a big part of being able to play the sport is being able to overcome that error and learning how to not only pick yourself up but to pick up your teammates,” Liberi said.*