by Allison Marshall
As the school year comes to a close, senior softball players reflect on their athletic careers at Whitworth. The softball team will graduate four seniors. This season the Pirates ended 20-19 overall and 17-11 in the Northwest Conference, putting them in third place.
In her best season yet, senior Caty Lieseke, catcher for the Pirates, was named first-team All Northwest Conference in addition to earning a career high .391 batting average this spring.
“The most memorable moment for me this year was any time spent with the whole team,”Lieseke said. “I also really enjoyed the Conference tournament, the game we knocked Willamette out of the tournament and beating Willamette on senior day.”
Outfielder Kelsey Ayers played softball all four years at Whitworth. Improvements made by the team over the course of four years made all the hard work put in worthwhile, Ayers said.
“Incoming freshmen probably need to be prepared for 6 a.m. conditioning, lectures on credit card debt, really long bus rides and taking care of multiple lakes that seem to accumulate on our field before games; but it’s all worth it, I promise,” Ayers said.
Senior Jessica Mangis pitched for Whitworth all four seasons. When asked what she enjoyed most about participating in sports at Whitworth, Mangis said, “Being recognized by the community and shown that the whole community was supporting us day in and day out.”
Senior McKenzie Stuby from Issaquah played outfielder for the Pirates and will also graduate this year. She was unavailable for an interview.