Softball seniors reflect on final season, team’s future

The following story was written by a student on the staff of The Jaguar Times as part of Hilliard Bradley High School’s Journalism Production course.

By Maxwell Lowe 

Video Editor 

Hilliard Bradley Softball is making history with every pitch. The Jaguars have won the OCC Championship three years in a row and are striving to become repeat District Champions. 

With the program's success, Taylor Hopkins (12) a Senior starter, contributes the success to the family-like environment saying, “It’s like a family, everyone is so hard working. Compared to years past, we’ve had no drama. Everyone’s been like one big family and I think that helps on and off the field.”

From players to coaching staff, the closeness of the group is integral. Head Varsity Coach Kevin Moody shares, “They bought into each other, and also respecting each other’s abilities, help each other get through tough times. It’s just a really close knit group of kids that are not letting distractions get in their way.” 

Having girls from every grade is crucial to the longevity of a team, but with younger girls on the team, it requires older leaders to step up. Moody talks highly of the impact senior leaders have had: “these seniors buy[ing] in [to the program] shows all the younger kids this is what it takes.” 

Senior leadership also notices the importance of energy within themselves, Hopkins (12) shares, “everybody reflects off of our energy, so when we’re hyped the whole team’s hyped.” Raising the energy of the entire team helps them to ultimately play at the highest level.

Playing at such a high level is actually less stressful, says Jillian Meszaros (12) adds, “We’re a lot more confident when we go into games … [going down a run] is not a huge deal because we’ve fought so hard, we know we can [come back].” The girls have so much grit that no team can make them feel out of reach of a victory.

With four strong seniors moving on after this season, Andrea Day (12), all-time hits leader, speaks highly of the next group of girls, saying, “I’m going to miss playing with these teammates, even the freshman that are new this year. They are so coachable and so willing to learn, it’s hard to find people like that … That’s what makes our team so good: everyone is willing to get better and willing to do whatever it takes to do it.”

The Jaguar are currently in the OHSAA tournament.