The Arlington High School softball season ended Monday during the Class C Subdistrict 2 Tournament in Wahoo.
The Eagles lost their opener to Freeman, 7-2, closing the fall campaign 12-18 overall.
“They worked hard,” AHS coach Janelle Lorsch said of her squad's season-long efforts. “They grinded.”
The second-seeded Falcons, however, broke a scoreless game wide open with a six-run bottom of the fourth inning against AHS. The Eagles tried to battle back, scoring two runs during the top of the fifth, but they couldn't catch the eventual victors.
“We just never got really good, solid contact on the ball,” Lorsch said.
Arlington instead manufactured its runs with patience and bat skills. Teagan Taylor walked to lead off the inning, according to Freeman stat-keeping, before Gwen Bostwick replaced her on the basepath.
From there, the Eagles' Emme Timm reached, too, before bunts by both Kallan Reed and Lauren Pittman.
Though Reed was thrown out on her attempt, AHS had the bases loaded when senior Britt Nielsen stepped up to the plate and delivered a sacrifice fly, cutting the Eagles' deficit to 6-1.
Timm scored next on a wild pitch, cutting Arlington's deficit to four runs, which is as close as it would get.
The loss marked the end of both Taylor and Nielsen's AHS softball careers. Lorsch said Taylor was an upbeat, positive teammate, who filled her role in the batting order when called upon.
Nielsen, meanwhile, was a good leader, who Lorsch said was always harder on herself than her coaches could ever get. The slugger earned 2023 Class second-team all-state honors from the Omaha World-Herald and is among her 2024 team's leaders in homers, runs scored and RBIs.
Though the seniors will graduate before the next Eagles softball season, Arlington will have many starters and contributors back in 2025.
“I don't know how many other schools have a dozen juniors,” Lorsch said.
Tessa Spivey became AHS' “workhorse” pitcher this fall, while her coach noted how well catcher Lilly Lang stepped up behind the plate. Pittman, a freshman, played a key role in her debut season, too.
Altogether at the end of the 2024 campaign, Lorsch feels the softball program in Arlington is “going in the right direction.”
AHS SOFTBALL LINE SCORE
Tuesday
Freeman 7, Arlington 2
AHS (12-18) 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 — 2
FHS (19-11) 0 0 0 6 0 1 X — 7
