Spring sports are in full swing! Now that we’re halfway through the season, let’s rewind to before the first kickoff, pitch, or faceoff and hear what some of our team captains predicted for their seasons.
First, we heard from Erik Mickelson and Matthew Evans, captains of our back to back state championship winning lacrosse team. They both expressed their excitement for moving up to 5a and think that they can compete for that 3rd championship in 3 years. When asked of a player they think can make a big jump this year in their production, they both agreed with Dylan Hersh, being a player who can improve tremendously. Currently, Hersh has ten goals and five assists in 6 games, a massive improvement from last year when he had six goals and one assist in the same stage last year.
Next, we heard from our softball captains, Avery Kaleel and Emma Terhaar. Just like Mickelson and Evans, Kaleel and Terhaar are excited for a jump up a region into 4a. Kaleel in particular is excited to “experience a lot of new teams”. When asked about their favorite thing about the softball team, they love how connected and bonded they are, especially during scrimmages. Kaleel’s goal for the season is to ‘hit a dinger over the center field fence’ and Terhaar’s goal is to ‘do a diving catch in the outfield’.
Now, onto baseball. Baseball’s captains are Miles Augustine and Austin Harlan. Augustine and Harlan were both very optimistic about the season and had nothing but positive thoughts about their performance. When asked about a player who can make a leap this year, Augustine said Buddy Kuftinec at 3rd base. He states that his batting has massively improved. Harlan says he thinks that sophomore Michael Gibbons has gotten much better, especially during their preseason scrimmages. He is “built like a truck”.
Currently, these teams arent doing to hot. Lacrosse has the best record out of the three with a 6-6 record, a slight downgrade from their first twelve games last year (7-5). Hopefully they can make a push in the playoffs. That unfortunately cannot be said for softball and baseball as they have a 5-12 and 2-22 respectively. Neither team has qualified for the state playoffs.
Other sports not interviewed include boys soccer, boys tennis, boys volleyball, girls lacrosse, girls golf and track and field. Girls lacrosse and boys soccer are enjoying the best seasons this spring with girls lacrosse having an impressive 8-1 record and boys soccer with a 10-3 record, the first time breaking double digit wins in five seasons. Boys soccer enjoyed their best start in program history winning seven straight before an unfortunate overtime loss to Jordan, where they suffered two red cards. Boys volleyball currently has a 8-4 record. The team recorded the most wins in program history, with five victories in each of the last two seasons. Senior captain, Eli Morrison, is on pace to shatter the single season kill record for boys and girls volleyball. The record right now is Daija Hutchins with 221 kills. Morrison is at nearly 200 with six games remaining this season. Boys tennis is finding life in 4a difficult with a 5-6 record so far.
The move to higher regions for spring sports this season has produced mixed results, with standout performances in soccer, girls lacrosse, and volleyball, while sports like baseball and softball struggled. Boys lacrosse, the three-time defending state champions, have started slow and sit at 6-6, landing somewhere in the middle of the pack so far this season. Watch out for these guys in the playoffs. Good luck to all of our teams for the remainder of the season and hopefully we can bring home some silverware back to Judge.
