UC High Softball Optimistic for Upcoming Season

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Helen Tadesse

Senior Natalie Minteer throws the ball to first base.

Stephanie Carreto, Staff Writer

Ending last year with a 23-7 record, the UC High Softball Team is looking to do very well this upcoming season.

   According to a high school sports data website, UC High’s Varsity Softball Team is ranked 145 out of all the high school softball teams in California (maxpreps.com).

   Junior First Baseman Catherine Mailloux reflected on last year’s accomplishments: “We were League Champs last year and we got got pretty far in CIF. We were two games away from the championship.”

  “Even though we beat Christian High multiple times, we surprisingly lost to them in CIF, and that is why we didn’t make it into the finals,” stated Senior Third Baseman Leilani Duarte.

   Senior Pitcher Natalie Minteer commented on how the Softball Team did last year in CIF: “We could have done better in CIF, and we actually did better the previous year, but we still did pretty good.” She continued, “Hopefully, we can win our league this year; it’s going to be tough, because we moved up to a new league and a new division.”

  “We only lost seven games last season, and because of our performance last year, we moved up from Division Three to Division Two,” Duarte said.

  Minteer was credited by many of her teammates, Mailloux included: “Natalie did an amazing job pitching, as usual, and she is probably the biggest asset to our team.” Duarte added.

   “Our coaches last year really focused on how we were going to win, and in practices, we worked on our weaknesses to help us improve,” Mailloux explained.

   “One of our team goals is to work together, and it’s probably the most important,” said Duarte.

   Sophomore First Baseman Jayla Briggs added, “Also, another big goal of ours is to go to championships, because we make playoffs each year, but we end up losing before we make it to the championship game.”

      “We did pretty well last year, and I think there is no reason why we can’t go even further this year,” Mailloux said.