Coming off of winning their eighth straight city championship, the Varsity Girls Softball team is ushering in a new era. After the team won its 14th championship in 16 years, seven girls graduated,leaving the team with a void. This season, the returning players will be counted on to fill the hole left by the class of 2014, hoping to continue the success of Lane’s softball program.

Mary Lindahl, Div. 580, has been playing softball at Lane since her freshman year, with her junior year and senior year seasons being on varsity. She said that the team has changed since last season, with many of the starting positions undecided.

“It’ll be different because we have basically a new team. Not a new team, but we have a lot of new players and no spots are secured,” Lindahl said. “It’s going to be different seeing who starts and who plays where because a lot of people will be moving around since almost all of our starters graduated.”

The seven seniors from last season had been on the varsity team all four years they attended Lane. Because of this, Lindahl admits that replacing them will not be easy.

“It’ll be hard because they all specifically brought something to the team. All of those seniors were all on varsity since their freshman year so they were all talented girls. It’s going to be different without them,” she said.

While it may be difficult to replace seven seniors, Lindahl does not think it is impossible. In fact, she is looking forward to this season and the changes that are coming with it. She hopes the team can win the city championship for the ninth year in a row.

Samantha Valera, Div. 677, will be playing on the varsity team for her second straight year. She has several goals for not only herself, but for the team as well. Personally, she wants to grow as a player and be more of a leader on the field.

“Always leading by example and always giving 100 percent effort is really good for all the underclassmen or even the juniors,” Valera said. “It’s a different scene to come and play varsity especially as a freshman (the team has one freshman). It’s just important to be a good example for them.”

On a team level, Valera is hoping the team can continue its streak and win its ninth straight city championship. She also wants the team to improve its record against suburban competition and defeat rival Whitney Young.

“We’re looking to beat a lot more suburban teams this year and be a top competitor. We hope to beat Whitney this year, definitely beat Whitney, and go win city again for the ninth year in a row,” Valera said.

Valera believes that the new players can step in and fill the shoes vacated after last season.

“There’s definitely a lot more younger girls this year. We lost the seven seniors last year. There’s a lot of juniors, but that’s not going to change too much. The drive of the team and passion of the team is still very much the same,” she said.

Eva Stees, Div. 671, has played on the varsity team since her freshman year and committed to play at Northwestern her sophomore year. This season, she wants to be there for all of her teammates and push them to do their best.

“When they get down about a them that they’ll get the next one or give them a suggestion in where they could improve in a certain situation, so they’re less likely to make the same mistake,” she said.

Stees expects the team to win another city championship, but also advance further in the state playoffs as well. She personally feels like winning city last year was a great accomplishment, but would have liked to do better during state.

“I think we were left wanting more because we wanted to win regionals. But we won a city championship so that was great,” she said.

With all the new players this year, Stees said that this team will undoubtedly be different from the last. She thinks that replacing the seven seniors will not be easy, but the team is on the right track, as they have added six juniors, a freshman, and a senior to this year’s roster. She believes this year’s team is just as talented as the last, but there is one noticeable change.

“The biggest change is that the players who were sophomores last year have to really step it up and make up for the seven seniors that we lost,” she said. “It’s basically just the realization that we have become the leaders of the team along with the three seniors this year and give an example to players who have not been on the team as long.”

All in all, Stees admits that softball is just a game and it is meant to be fun. Win or lose, she said the girls have to remember this.

“Even when we’re not having a good game, I’ll be there along with my other teammates still cheering everyone on. The whole point is to just have fun and remember that it’s just a game,” she said. “Remembering to have fun is the most important part to the game.”