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Joya Nath '28

Members of varsity softball team huddle up during time out to discuss next moves in the field.

Even with the past week’s heat settled, varsity softball remained hot on Monday, April 20, gaining an [11-4] win against Upper Darby in a 7-inning game.

For the first two innings, action remained steady as the score came to a tie at 2-2. In the third inning, sophomore Madi Grafton gave the team the needed boost with three runs.

“I think today went pretty well,” Grafton said. “A lot of us made contact at the plate, which was amazing.”

With the momentum, sophomore Cyan Jukalla was able to hit a double, and after consistent batting from team members, sophomore Addie Qual brought the score up to 2-8 in inning 4.

Those in the outfield also stayed alert, playing defensively against Upper Darby’s fairly substantial contact. 

“I’m really proud of how [the team] plays defense behind me,” senior captain and pitcher Annika Slootmaker said. “Sometimes there aren’t a ton of hits for us to defend, so I’m proud of how everyone handled that.”

Slootmaker’s pitches were key in holding off Upper Darby at bat, resulting in the opponent being held at a standstill in innings 3 and 4 while Strath Haven surged ahead. In fact, at the game’s conclusion, Slootmaker was left only 3 strikes away from breaking the school’s record for softball strikeouts.

“I’m really excited. I definitely don’t know if I could’ve fathomed that when I was a freshman,” Slootmaker said.

After consistent effort and a triple from junior Katie Lin in the fifth inning, the game closed with an 11-4 victory. The girls’ performance undoubtedly showed improvement, as last year they had less success over similar teams.

“We only beat them one-nothing last year, so I knew that it was not necessarily going to be an easy game,” head coach Micheal DeAngelo said. “I’m glad that we were able to pull it out and actually get a solid win today.”

Typically, following each game, one player is awarded “Player of the Game.” This week, the team took it home collectively thanks to their hard work. 

Looking towards the rest of the season, the girls hope to keep up the energy and remain consistent.

“I’m hoping to keep up our aggressiveness at the plate and continue to be consistent with keeping our hits,” Grafton said.