The girls’ softball team played Mifflin County on Tuesday, April 4. Both varsity and junior varsity lost. 

“Mifflin County is a really good school. They have a lot of really good softball players who can hit, field and do all of these different types of things. I think that with more practice we can get to that point, but right now we are still working towards that,” Freshman Bria Clapper said.

The starting line up for the varsity game were freshmen Skyler Reed, Kendall Cogan, Ayania Hartman, Lilly Snyder Kaya Sprankle, Sophomore Mary Worley, Junior Haley Wible, and seniors Grace Glasgow and Gracie Wilt.

“I have been playing softball since I was really little, and my dad has always told me to practice to get better. So I found my love within softball, I love to practice, I love to play. All of the hard work I have put in throughout that last 14 years of playing has gotten me to this point,” Wilt said.

The starting line up for the junior varsity game were freshmen Caroline Cafin, Bria Clapper, Taniyah Hicks, sophomores Sienna Smith, Bridget Delozier, Taina Banks, and juniors Macenzie Woodring, Kayla Delozier and Izzie Wills. 

“When you’re a starter, you get to huddle with your team, be announced, you warm up and have a good time. It gets you pumped up and ready to play,” Clapper said

By the end of the first inning neither team had scored causing it to be a tie game.

“I try to keep my teammates with a positive attitude. That is one of the biggest aspects of the game, staying positive because when you get down is when you start to see the other team prosper,” Wilt said.

Junior varsity had a score of 0-6 after the first inning.

“During practice, in order to prepare for the game, we worked a lot on fielding because we were lacking in defense. So we know how to make the correct plays, so they wouldn’t run up the score,” Clapper said. 

During the fourth inning, Altoona’s pitcher struck out the first three girls. 

“A lot of work goes into pitching. You have to work on your spins, exploding off the mound with your arm speed up in order to get the velocity you need. The hardest part of pitching is the mental game. You feel like all of the pressure is on you,” Reed said. 

During the sixth inning, the varsity girls didn’t give up and scored two runs. At the end of the game the varsity score was 2-17. 

“We will sit down and discuss the game, what we feel went right and what we feel went wrong and then as a team we come up with ways to practice what needs changed while also building off the positives,” Coach Jessica Stiffler said. 

The girls’ junior varsity team will play their next home game Thursday, April 6 at 4:15 p.m. The girls’ varsity will play their next home game April 10, at 4:15 p.m.