The Baldwin girls softball team wrapped up a successful regular season last week with a win over West Mifflin, improving their record to 16-4 overall and 10-2 in section.
The Highlanders finished second in their section behind Thomas Jefferson.
To get second place in the section, they had to play key games against Thomas Jefferson and Trinity. Baldwin split the series with each of those two teams.
“These games were so important for our season because they defined our team and showed us the potential we have and the obstacles we need to overcome,” senior Reese Temme said.
The Highlanders earned the fifth seed in the 5A bracket and will take on Kiski Area at 3 p.m. today at Norwin.
Head coach Ron Santillo said the team’s chemistry is what has made them so successful.
“We have incredible young athletes that love to be around one another,” Santillo said. “We have amazing team chemistry and it’s baked on support and a ‘next play’ mentality.”
Temme shouted out some of her teammates who have played key roles this year.
“Junior Ava Bonacci and seniors Kenzie Bowen and Avery Herrington have stood out this year,” Temme said. “All of them played strong defense and hit when we needed them to.”
Herrington added some other standouts.
“(Junior) Melina DeFelice and Reese Temme have stood out this year,” Herrington said. “Melina has been a shutdown pitcher, barely allowing teams to excel in hitting, and Reese has been a constant producer of hits throughout the entire season and has been a shutdown centerfielder.”
Temme also gave credit to the pitching staff.
“Melina DeFelice and sophomore Cam Temme have worked together to pitch very strongly, shutting out games and leading us to winning opportunities,” Temme said.
Herrington said the Highlanders have struggled with hitting sometimes.
“We struggled the most with hitting throughout the course of games,” Herrington said. “Our last few games we struggled stringing together hits, which I believe caused us to lose those games, because we could not be consistent.”
Baldwin has been able to overcome those struggles through leadership and trusting each other.
“We have overcome those struggles by trusting our abilities and knowing we are able to compete the entire game,” Herrington said. “The four seniors voiced to everyone how we trust them and how we believe they can do great things. We just had to stop having those doubts, so I feel that feedback helped us gain back confidence in hitting.”
Temme said that the team needs to get into a playoff mentality.
“Going into the playoffs we need to go in with the right mindset, ready to play the game we all know how to play,” Temme said. “Trusting in ourselves and our teammates will be the best thing we can do for a long playoff run.”
Santillo said the team just needs to relax and trust their talent.
“We have the talent in order to win and we have proven that we can beat good teams,” Santillo said. “They just need to relax and have fun while playing and everything will work out.”
