Softball caps off regular season with conference title

Allie Keim | The Chronicle

The Girls Varsity Softball team is entering the postseason with a streak of momentum. 

The Comets won the Greater Miami Conference championship for the first time since 2018, with a 16-2 record in the conference, while concluding the season on a seven-game winning streak.

The Comets returned eight varsity starters from last season, helping them connect on and off the field. The team has emphasized goal-setting and unity this year, riding that to many milestones. They broke the program record for team-quality at-bats and captured the conference title. Individually, junior Addie McBrayer set a program record for career stolen bases (67 as of 5/5) and senior Jo Sander passed 100 career hits.

“We had an off year last year, but [going into this season] we knew what we had to fix and the exact approach we were going to take,” McBrayer said. “We have listened to our coaches and truly believe that we can be the best. And once we set our expectations high, we are finally starting to meet them and it feels good as a team.”

A tough out-of-conference schedule including a 7-6 loss to Eastern Cincinnati Conference champion Kings and a 9-7 loss to 2023 Ohio High School Athletic Association Division One runner-up Anthony Wayne gave the Comets early experience in playoff atmospheres. The team has also won three one-run games, including extra-innings wins over Fairfield and Lakota West.

Senior Avery Blinn, a Thomas More University signee, views the team’s tests early in the season as key to their growth. Blinn said that keeping up a supportive mindset in the dugout and participating in cheers has allowed the team to perform their best in each game. 

“Something that stuck out to me this season is this team’s ability to fight back in difficult situations,” Blinn said. “We’ve had a bunch of difficult games where we have come out with a win, even though we may start down.”

Blinn is proud of the culture the team has cultivated and will carry it with her past her Comet career.

“[Transitioning into college] I am definitely going to bring our team’s sense of goal,” Blinn said. “We have a lot of little goals and boxes that we have to check after each game. If we make sure to do all these things then it can add up to a win.”

Blinn has been with the varsity team for four years, starting the last three. She hopes the team’s success this season, including bringing home a conference championship, can set a new standard for the program.

“Our coaches have very high expectations for us and we’ve already come this far,” Blinn said. “[Winning] GMCs puts a huge dent that really helps our standing for the years to come.”