Seniors leave behind a legacy after strong season

Hallie Thornburgh, Staff Reporter

The Ritenour Softball team took big swings to have an incredible season while saying goodbye to two seniors that played all four years.

With a 17-6 final record and becoming number one in their district, the softball team has made fantastic plays to have a great 2022-2023 season. 

During the 2021-2022 season the team had an 8-10 record with a good start. Towards the end is where it became a struggle, but this year the team became headstrong and prevailed to show that they desired these wins.

“Practices are a lot tougher, I feel like we focus a lot more than last season,” sophomore Tyler Frost said. “We’re more in the game this season.”

Even with the loss of six of their seniors last year, one of which was a four-year starter, they managed to lock down and grow from the losses. Some of that growth came from a completely new coaching lineup consisting of Brittany Dean, Kayla Ellege, and John Howard. 

 “We had a coaching improvement, and we’re all becoming better teammates,” Hailey Ebert said.  

The bonding of the team has been one of the biggest changes from last year’s team.

“Even though we had different coaches, we were still the same group, but we came together as a collective.” Layla Fouche said.

On October 6, they went up against Francis Howell North, a team they had previously lost to by a score of 2-7 last season. This year with these improvements and changes, they won by a final score of 15-13. The first few innings were difficult, but the hitting lineup brought the team back up. In addition to the hitting, Ebert robbed a potential home run to make the last out in the final inning ending the game. 

The two seniors on the team get to contribute to the success of their last season as their high school years slowly came to an end. First baseman Layla Fouche and shortstop Elizabeth Dobbs have been playing for the Ritenour softball team all four years. 

“Playing for the Ritenour softball team allowed me to adapt and learn how to overcome situations,” Dobbs said when speaking about her time at Ritenour. 

Both Seniors got to witness the highs and lows of the team for four years. They experienced the different coaching styles with the staff changes and were able to create a bond with their new teammates that came in from middle school each year. 

“Over the course of my four years, we really learned where people play well, what their strengths are, what their weaknesses are, and how we can make that a winning team,” Dobbs remarked.

Their final high school softball game was on October 11, 2022.

“Us leaving, I really want the other girls to focus on being together as a team and working together,” Fouche said. 

Dobbs agreed that becoming a team, rather than a group of individuals, was the path to future success. 

“If you’re not a unified team you won’t make it anywhere and you won’t do anything,” Dobbs said.