In recent years, the amount of players on the varsity girls softball team has been falling. This year, for the 2023 season, the team is left with 13 girls, of which only eleven are eligible to play due to injuries. This has not become a drawback for the team as they overcome through cooperation and triumph right through the season.
Senior Presley Wiersum has been playing softball since she was five years old and has continued to play for the school’s team each year. Wiersum’s long-term dedication to this sport has allowed her to see the dwindling numbers on the team.
“I have played softball at Northview for 13 years and I only have one of my original teammates left on my team,” Wiersum said. “Last season, we started the season with 19 girls and we finished the season with barely 11. The number of girls playing softball has decreased very quickly over the last few years.”
However, the team doesn’t let the decline of players affect them. Wiersum believes the team has improved collaboration because of the Spring break bonding the team engaged in.
“Our team also took the trip to Pensacola, Florida this spring break for training and it solidified our team together and made us a real team,” Wiersum said. “Spending a week inside a house with 13 girls can either make or break a team. It made us more aware of our teammates rather than ourselves and [we] work together more seamlessly.”
This valued time the girls have spent together has created a notable shift in the team’s performance.
“In past years, we’ve usually had a very slow start to the season, winning few and losing lots, but this year right off the bat, it was fire,” Wiersum said. “We won our first doubleheader, one by mercy rule, and it gave us a reality check that we were better than we had realized.”
There isn’t just a shift in performance, but also in overall team dynamics and vibrancy.
“This year’s team has a type of energy on and off the field that is electrifying, we are more driven and more focused than we have ever been,” Wiersum said. “We have worked to make our team one unit together, instead of 13 individuals. We have grown our confidence, our talent and our team as a whole. It has completely changed our play style to be more efficient and effective.”
Junior Kylie Hoyh is another teammate involved with softball for the majority of her life. Since there have been consistent transformations to the team, Hoyh has taken on her fair share of duties to help the team.
“I’ve done a lot to help. I’ve run practices as well as playing all the positions [that] nobody was used to playing,” Hoyh said.
Junior Abigail Barnes has been playing softball since her freshman year of high school. Barnes has also helped take the initiative to assist the team.
“I have taken a role in just explaining [softball-related] things that can help with future years,” Barnes said.
With this being Wiersum’s last year of high school softball, she is proud of how the team has been able to work with what they have to succeed.
“This season has been going very well for us and has given us a ton of hope for the future [of the] team. Our team has never been more determined and close as our girls are this year,” Wiersum said. “We’ve always known we’re more than the losses we were receiving, most games only losing by a single run, but this year we’re smarter, faster and stronger than we have ever been.”
