Wheeling Park Softball plays at Martins Ferry tonight at 5 p.m. The Patriots have taken the softball field by storm, setting an impressive record thus far, especially considering how young of a team it is this season.
The first thing that is easy to see when it comes to the softball team is how well they work together, and that is thanks to a longtime commitment to the sport.
Sophomore player London Fankhauser said, “We have a lot of great chemistry on the team. Some of us have played softball with each other for a long time on travel, so I think it definitely plays a part.”
The season has clearly taken off in a strong direction with the Patriots 16-13, their most recent win being over Brooke High School on Monday, April 27. The record may seem close to some, but the feat becomes all the more impressive when you consider their team’s hurdles this season.
Junior player Kylah Cunningham said, “Our team’s pretty young, so we have a lot of room for improvement and stuff, but other than that, I think we’re doing pretty good as a team so far.”
There is only one senior player, Grace Tamburin, and she’s taken the lead on preparing these girls for the seasons ahead without her. She has made it her responsibility to provide as much guidance as possible and to be a strong role model for the younger players.
“As the senior and the only one, I combine ideas with the juniors and younger girls, and I don’t think of myself as the boss. However, you kinda have to be the team leader sometimes and control the ruckus. I pick the uniforms, I send out stuff, and do all those things,” said Tamburin.
The underclassmen team members would agree that Tamburin’s advice has pushed them in the right direction, especially sophomores Brenna Tipton and Paige Danehart.
Tipton said, “Having Grace as the only senior really helps, especially looking up to just one person. She is the sweetest person ever, she’s so energetic and uplifting, and I think we would all agree she’s the one person that we’d want to have as our senior, and she’s just amazing overall.”
“She is really good and definitely a good leader, her attitude is so good and it lifts all of us up. It makes us want to do better,” said Danehart.
Of course, none of this would be possible without the hard work and dedication of the coaches serving season after season. Head Coach Patrick Durkin alongside the assistant coaches have certainly made the 25-26 season something to remember for these players.
“Durkin is our head coach and he organizes all the practices. Chad is a coach you can always come to no matter what. Chac’ is definitely silly, he doesn’t know when things are serious and when things aren’t, so you can always expect something funny from him. Donnie is very helpful since I’m a pitcher and he’s the pitching coach. Mike is very good with the outfielders, he definitely knows what he’s doing. Shepherd is new this year, and I think he fits in really well because we’re a goofy team and he’s goofy himself,” said Fankhauser.
The work that has been put in already is phenomenal by the players, striving to be better with each game they play.
“Most of the girls are young and are going to be very, very good when they are older and have more experience on the varsity field, but they’ve been preparing in the offseason too,” said Tamburin.
Assistant Coach Mike Mathieu said, “We practice hitting on a machine, practice with soft tosses, and we go over live pitching, fielding, situational playing, catching fly balls, ground balls, and stuff like that at practice.”
The prize the team has their eyes set on is making it to States this year, which is probably most exciting to the underclassmen players because they’d get out of school June 2.
Mathieu said, “Their goal is to make it to the state playoffs to get out of school early, which is the top eight teams in the state. Playoffs start May 11, and the teams who qualify will go to Charleston in June.”
Making it to any state level competition is no easy feat, though. Lots of hard work, time, and dedication is being put in by the team to ensure they can make this goal a reality for themselves.
Tipton said, “We keep saying that this is another reason that we should be working extra hard, getting out of school June 2. I know our coaches have been pretty hard on us, and I think at first we were all caught off guard, but then we realized that this is what we need to make it to States.”
While the season may be close to over, the players and coaches are looking forward to seeing what they can accomplish this year– which, fingers crossed, is the state playoffs– and how they can continue bringing their A-Game next season.
