The softball team’s season ended with a loss to Plano West High School in the regional quarterfinals on May 11 in a three-game playoff series. 

“The first game of the series, we did really well,” pitcher Lucy Crowder said. “The second one, we lost [because] we just weren’t prepared. As [for] our third game, we just needed to score two runs to win, but it just didn’t happen. It was a close game all throughout.”

The Hawks won the first game of the series on May 9 with a score of 4-2, then lost the next two games on May 10 and 11 1-2 and 0-1.

“Our hitting [throughout the games] was pretty good,” third baseman Allie Lovett said. “But in the final game, it just wasn’t there and we couldn’t score a run.”

The team finished the season with an overall record of 23-10-2 and a district record of 11-3, placing second in the district. Head coach Chelsea Herndon said this season came with some challenges of balancing new and old opposing teams.

“Pre-season was really rough,” Lovett said. “We were just not clicking [or] working together on the field, but [we eventually] worked through it. We started to get closer as a team, work more and encourage each other more in and out of practice.”

The team will be losing four seniors, which Lovett said will be tough, even though she feels the team is prepared to step-up again next season. 

“It’s sad any time [a] season ends,” Herndon said. “Especially when you lose a group of [players] that you built a program with and a team that you were proud of.”

Next year, Herndon said she plans to keep the same approach as this season, and is looking forward to new players with so many current players leaving.

“It’s always fun getting new [players and] seeing how they work together, make new individual goals and just have a fresh start for the year,” Herndon said.