The WJ softball team lost their first playoff game in the region semifinals 7-0 to the Winston Churchill Bulldogs on Monday, May 12, ending their season early.
The Wildcats and Bulldogs came into the playoffs with similar records, with WJ’s 10-5 slightly better than Churchill’s 10-6, earning the Cats a first-round bye. Churchill made quick work of their first-round opponent, Gaithersburg, beating them 12-0.
For Churchill, the X-factor was star senior pitcher Maggie King. The Division 1 George Washington University commit has remained dominant this season.
Against the Cats, King showed her excellence, consistently shutting out WJ’s best hitters. King went all seven innings for the Bulldogs, only giving up two hits the whole game. She also caused 12 strikeouts and allowed no walks.
“We came across a pitcher who was having a really good day,” head coach Richard Carter said. “She’s been pitching really well recently and she took us down today. We did what we could to try and put the bat on the ball, but when we did it would just go to somebody.”
The game started out well for the Cats in the field, as freshman pitcher Logan Strbak gave up only three hits in the first three innings without allowing a single run. In the fourth inning, Strbak conceded three singles in a row to open up the top of the fourth inning to make the bases loaded, leading to Churchill grabbing the first two runs of the game off of fielders’ choices.
Once the Bulldogs started scoring, they never looked back, eventually scoring five more runs all in the top of the sixth inning to make the final score 7-0. The game was a particularly difficult one for the Cats, as they were constantly frustrated with the Umpires over ball and strike calls. It was the first time the Cats have been shutout since their 18-0 state quarterfinals loss against Urbana in 2023.
“I feel like we could’ve done better for our seniors, but we worked hard. Some games you lose and some games you win but we did great,” Strbak said.
Entering the season, the Wildcats had to deal with the loss of several key seniors. The Cats solely relied on two freshmen, Logan Strbak and Lizzie Robinson, the whole year as pitchers, along with using freshmen in several other important starting positions.
“I wasn’t really sure what to expect when you take a group of freshmen and you rely on them for a lot of key positions,” Carter said. “I saw a lot of growth in them, they improved throughout the year and that’s what you want. It didn’t end how we wanted it to end, but I think a lot of growth happened, so we’re ready to come into next year.”
The game was especially emotional for the seniors on the team, who after making it to the state semifinals last year as juniors, had their playoff hopes stopped short.
“They’ve meant everything,”
senior Vivian Liebreich said of her teammates. “This team is a family, and you get everything out of it that you put in. And I think us as seniors, we put a lot in and got a lot out of the team and I’m going to miss it so much.”
Entering next season, the Cats are optimistic they can go very far in the postseason with a lot of continuity in their lineup from this season.
“We lost three one-run games this year, could’ve gone either way, could’ve been 13-2 heading into [the playoffs]. We have a lot of good players coming back, so we’ll just keep getting better,” Carter said.
