Despite a slow start to the season with a 1-2-1 record, the CESJDS varsity softball team managed to make the playoffs as the fourth seed. Against all odds, they fought their way into the championship game but fell with a score of 11-9.

The Lions fell short in the Potomac Valley Athletic Conference (PVAC) softball championship game against Spencerville Adventist Academy. Despite being down by two runs at the end of the first inning, the Lions came back and took a commanding 5-2 lead.

The turning point of the game was during the fifth and sixth innings when Spencerville combined to score five runs and went up 11-7 by the top of the seventh inning. The Lions were unable to climb back and lost 11-9.

Sophomore and co-captain Miriam Goldel was the starting pitcher for JDS in this game. After a shaky start, she hit her stride beginning in the bottom of the second inning through the bottom of the fourth inning where she only allowed one run. 

“It was so exciting to get this far. We weren’t really expecting to get here but it was really exciting and even though we lost it was still a great season,” Goldel said.

The Lions began the season by losing to the Mclean Mustangs because of the mercy rule, which states that if a team is winning by ten or more runs after the fourth inning, they automatically win. However, as the season progressed, the Lions began to perform better, and they were able to get revenge on McLean in the semifinals by defeating them with the mercy rule. The Mustangs were undefeated and were the favorites to win the league. 

“Being able to mercy rule Mclean in the playoffs … was really exciting. We went into [the game] not thinking we were going to win and we just wanted to have fun and we had so much fun and won so that was really exciting,” junior Elana Skolnick-Einhorn said.

Softball coach and high school English teacher Thomas Worden was proud of how his players competed throughout the season, and he remained confident in his team’s ability even after the loss.

“I was a little disappointed in our bunt game because we practiced it, we had it ready to go, and we just didn’t quite land out,” Worden said. “We just didn’t quite get our leadoffs on and didn’t put the pressure on the pitcher that I thought we were going to… but we got some timely hits and scored a lot of runs.”  

Despite the loss, Worden remains optimistic for the future of JDS varsity softball. 

“I feel great. This is the first time we’ve been here and it gives the girls a feeling of what it is like to play in a big game like this, it just has a different feel,” Worden said. “… We’re just starting and we’re going to be back next year.”