By Emma Wickman
Journal intern
The Friday Harbor High School fastpitch team is off and rolling with their first practice on Feb. 28, in the snow.
When asked about the snow practice, junior Savannah Hoffman said, “it builds our character, and see who’s really up for the season.”
The fastpitch team is again coached by Kirk Holt and Brian Lambright and assisted by Mandy Pongs and Bob Pauls.
“This year is going to be different in terms of our coaching style, warm-ups, and pregame,” said Holt. “We are really going to push the girls to their full potential because we know they’ve got it in them.”
Their squad right now consists of girls of all grades. There is a total of six seniors; Alexa Mora, Cady Wilson, this author Emma Wickman, Hannah Hopkins, Hayden Mayer, and Lauren Ayers. The seniors have been with coaches Lambright and Holt since the beginning of their high school careers, so this season is bound to be special.
“Our goal is to not only make it to state but to win it all,” said senior Cady Wilson.
The team is coming off of two state appearances from the 2015 and 2016 seasons, only making it the first year, and advancing to the top eight last year.
“The numbers don’t lie,” said Holt. “We are growing as a team exponentially, we can only go up from here. Over the last three years, our run score has gone up, the number of times we have ‘10-runned’ a team has gone up, and we’ve done better at state.”
The Wolverines games this year will be played at the brand new fields at John O. Linde Community Park on Carter Street. The new field is bigger and better than their old one, and the girls are ready to break it in with its inaugural season.
“The field is a lot bigger than our old one, and there’s a warning track too,” said Hayden Mayer, “so the outfielders will know when we’re about to hit the fence, which is nice.”
The team’s first home game on Saturday, March 11 against Mt. Baker, was canceled due to bad weather.
Girls Fast Pitch Softball Schedule
3-11 Mt. Baker 12:00
3-17 Sultan 4:30
3-18 Forks 11:30
3-22 @ Bothel 3:30
3-29 @ Forest Ridge 4:00
4-11 Concrete 4:45
4-14 Orcas TBD
4-15 @ Coupeville 2:00
4-18 La Conner 4:45
4-21 @ Darrington TBD
4-22 Ferndale 12:00
4-28 @ Concrete 3:00
5-02 @ Orcas TBD
5-06 @ LaConner 1:30
5-10 Darrington 4:45
5-12 La Conner 4:45
