Immediately following another win, the players ran out to the outfield, talking and laughing with each other in celebration. After a few minutes, they settled down on the grass to hear another pep talk from the coaches. The coaches told them, excitedly, their team had just won conference and was undefeated. The team burst out cheering, ecstatic that their hard work and dedication had finally paid off.

They were the first junior varsity softball team from Timberland to ever win conference.

“It felt amazing…This year it felt like it was my first time playing and I remembered why I love the game,” sophomore Paula Powell said.

The JV team has twelve members: sophomores Rachel Campbell, Ryen Ehling, Kiersten Dolan, Paula Powell, Emma Tiefenbrun, Kayden Tyler and freshmen Emma Caplinger, Carlie Lamparter, Andie McCool, Delanie McDaniel, Leah Sage and Morgan Walkenhorst.

“[My favorite thing is] seeing all the talent around me that has come from so many different styles of teaching and all of them coming together into one team,” freshman Delanie McDaniel said.

This group of freshmen and sophomore girls unified into one successful team in a very short amount of time. From the beginning, the team worked well together, even with only fifteen days to practice before their first game.

“My favorite part about coaching JV this year was being around the girls every day. They are such a great group that worked extremely hard. Every practice, every game, they wanted to get better and it is always great being around players who want to work hard,” co-coach of the junior varsity and C softball teams Paige Abert said.

Abert has been co-coaching with Sarah Boyer for two years. This year, they both coached JV and C team. They switched off practices and games between the two teams to ensure that there was always a coach at the each of the team’s practices and games.

“Coach Boyer and I did a lot of work outside of school with meeting, planning games and practices…It is always great working with her,” Abert said.

Abert said she thought the team’s best game this season was against Francis Howell Central near the beginning of the season. The game was part of the Wentzville Holt Tournament. It was the third game of the day and the temperature was in the 90’s.

“Each player stepped up. Our pitcher pitched a great game, only allowing four hits and our offense stepped offensively with eight hits from multiple players. Girls came out and played each inning solid defensively and without any errors,” Abert said.

Gallery • 5 Photos

Jessica Spivey

Aleah Sage, a member of the JV Girls Softball team.