[ot-caption title= “Freshman Sami Restrepo and sophomore Diana Florencio stepping up to the plate at a home softball game. (via Kathy Trebbi)”]

Last Tuesday, the PC Girls’ Softball team’s season came to an end with a district semifinal loss to Pompano.  This year, without question, was a rebuilding season for Coach Thompson’s bunch.  With no new members joining the team roster and a loss of five seniors for last year, the girls were forced to fight through the season with what they had. Not only did the team have to continue on with no new additions to the team, but they had to deal with quite a large amount of adversity.  In addition to playing a really tough South Florida schedule, there were an absurd number of injuries throughout the season. These injuries include concussions, rolled ankles, and a torn ACL.

Despite these obstacles, it’s important to note that there were most definitely positives that came from this season.  The Lady Panthers finished with a 7-10 record, and the girls stuck together and fought even harder to keep up the good work and make the most out of the year.  On the field, the team was led by an interesting foursome of captains that featured two juniors and two freshmen.  Upperclassmen Alli Sillitsky and Katherine Poppiti, who led the team in both home runs and strikeouts, really provided some great leadership on the diamond throughout the season.  Additionally, the team’s only two freshmen, Sami Restrepo and Alli Trebbi made great progression from their eighth grade seasons on Varsity to combine for six triples and two of the team’s top batting averages.  Other key contributors included Madi Leon, who was fortunate to recover quickly from shoulder surgery and pitch the bulk of the season, and Andie Weinberg, the team’s leader in number of pop flies almost dropped, but eventually caught (excellent statistic, whoever kept track of this).

While much of this season was about development, the girls had some great moments on the field.  The highlights of the girls’ season were a 22-7 thrashing of rival Cardinal Gibbons and a gritty, 9-5 win at St. Andrew’s.  They won back-to-back games twice over the course of the year and most importantly, built on a foundation that’s going to lead the charge for years to come.  And that’s the main story regarding Pine Crest softball: the future.  Everyone’s back next year, including all four of their captains.  With them and a lot of solid talent from the freshmen and sophomore players, the team will continue to grow with their core advancing as the years go on. Junior captain, Alli Sillitsky said, “this season showed great potential for what we will bring to the field next year”. She and many surrounding the program feel that the team will continue to improve and come back stronger next year.  With next season approaching, all of the members of the team are hoping that their fans and the rest of the school are as excited for the start of the 2016-17 campaign as they are.