With the girls softball season starting, senior Abby Smearman and junior Gracie Wilt became captains for the team. 

How it was decided 

The head coach, Jessica Stiffler, asked every girl on the team to put two names on paper and put it in a hat. When she counted the votes, Smearman and Wilt had the most votes. 

Smearman and Wilt are the varsity captains, but there are JV captains as well. Freshman Jessika Ferguson looks up to Smearmen and Wilt. 

“I thought that Abby and Gracie were going to be chosen for captains even before the voting. They are strong leaders and they know the most about the program. They are also very helpful to me and other players,” Ferguson said.

Abby Smearman 

Smearman has been playing the sport since she was 5 years old. She started with baseball and basketball, but ultimately, she decided softball was most important to her. 

“I love the game. I really enjoy softball, and I’ve met so many wonderful people throughout the sport. The love of the game motivates me to try to be the best I can be at it. I knew softball was my true passion,” Smearman said. 

Smearman is going to be playing softball at Seton Hill University. She will major in nursing. 

“I really like Seton Hill. It’s kind of like a smaller school, and it’s also in a really competitive division for softball. Their facilities are super nice. Everyone on the campus is really friendly. They also have wonderful health science programs and I’m going for nursing, so that was also a deciding factor,” Smearman said. 

Wilt and Smearman both agree they work well together. 

“Abby is one of the most well-rounded, fundamentally-sound girls I have ever played with. Along with her very high softball IQ, there is no doubt that she 100 percent deserves to be a captain.  I wouldn’t have chosen any other girl to be co-captains with. Abby and I share the same love and passion for the game, we both have very similar goals for the team, and we both plan on playing softball in college,” Wilt said.

Smearman leads by her actions. 

“I try to be a leader as much as possible. I’m not so much a vocal leader but I try to lead by example so I can instill good qualities in the young players and be a role model for them. I want to show them how a softball player should act and display,” Smearman said. 

Smearman believes that softball has affected her life greatly, and she is thankful for that. 

“Softball has definitely made me into the person I am today. Just through hard work, I’ve learned how to manage time, competitiveness, and how to deal with my emotions. I’ve just learned so much just about life throughout the game of softball,” Smearman said.

Gracie Wilt

Wilt was chosen to be captain along with Smearman. Her father played baseball, inspiring her to try softball. 

“My motivation comes from the love and passion that I have for the game and the support that I have from all of my family and friends,” Wilt said.  

Wilt and Smearman both agree that softball has impacted them greatly.

“I think that because I have grown up around softball my entire life, I would be a completely different person without it. I think that knowing the game of softball has increased general life skills such as problem solving, patience, quick thinking, etc,” Wilt said. 

Smearman is very happy to share her power as captain with Wilt. 

“I definitely like having Gracie as a co-captain, we’re kind of opposites of each other so it’s kind of nice to have someone to see something different then I do so we can balance each other out. She is definitely more of the vocal leader between the two of us and she can really help make sure all of the players are on the same page,” Smearman said.  

JV captain Alecea Wisor hopes to be a varsity captain like Wilt in the future. 

“She is very well organized and is always there to correct her teammates in a positive manner,” Wisor said.