March 27, 2024 – Story by Ava DiCecca, photos by Joshua Ross
Harborwomen softball is excited to start their season with a young but strong team this year. Coming off of an 18-2-2 season last year, they are looking to maintain and continue many of their past successes and strengths while working to improve their shot at a further run in the postseason. They aim to be competitive every single game and have an overall consistent season that will lead them to a tournament win.
Head Coach Dianne Whittaker spoke to some of the girls that will be key players this season in helping them achieve goals across the board. She mentioned senior captain Jess Mulrey who was an Allstar catcher last year and is expected to be one of the top players in the league this year, junior pitcher Bilyana Wilkin who was also an Allstar last year, and sophomore Abby Mercer who Whittaker expects to have a big year. However, with a young team there will be many opportunities for other players to rise to the top, and Wittaker is excited to see who that will be.
Whittaker is also looking for her captains – Jess Mulrey, Kate Schulte, and Aradhana Sood- to “keep their teammates motivated, build a positive environment, and make sure everyone is on the same page as far as what our goals are.” Schulte is hoping to do just that by “bringing the team together and creating the united team feeling.” She is super excited to be a leader on the team this year and contribute to a fun and successful season.
Sood and Mulrey also had their own goals for the season and for themselves as captains. Sood is looking for the team to make it “one game further than last year” if not more and she stated that she is the most excited to see how the team works together and performs to make that happen. While Sood was looking towards how to build on last season, Mulrey spoke on many of the positives from the year and is looking to maintain those as well as improving where necessary. She commented that she is “excited to show the girls what it’s all about. I hope they can be just as excited as I’ve always been every single year coming back.” Judging by her comments as well as those from her fellow captains and coach, it seems there will be no shortage of that enthusiasm this year.
As far as where their strengths lie on the field, Whittaker spoke to the different aspects of their game that will help them succeed this year. She stated that they have a lot of speed and will look to capitalize on that, as well as their defensive versatility that will allow them to draw on the strength of individual players. They will be able to get a lot more creative on defense this year which should lead to some great successes. In regards to the season as a whole, based on these strengths Whittaker stated that her goals are built around “doing a lot of small things that add up. Getting really good at the basic mechanics of things, communication, learning to read different situations as they come up and then hopefully being able to put all that together will result in a lot of success in the win column.”
The team has no shortage of talent or enthusiasm this year and they are channeling their excitement for the season into hard work to make it the best one possible. With the captains looking towards a tournament win and their coach focusing on the little things to get them there, they have created a fantastic balance destined for success.