When spring rolls around each year, so do many different types of spring sports. One of the most popular sports played during this time is softball. The current Pennridge Lady Rams softball team consists of 10 girls on varsity and 16 girls on junior varsity. Laura Heckler is a math teacher at Pennridge High School and also the head coach of the JV softball team. Heckler has been playing softball since she was six years old and even played for the Pennridge team herself. She got into coaching because she loved the sport and didn’t want to stop being around it. Heckler feels as though she has created a good atmosphere for all of the girls on the team. “Everybody works well together, and we are all very supportive of each other,” she explained. Maria O’Mara, a junior at Pennridge High School and a player on the JV team, can attest to this. She said, “My favorite part of being a team member is the support from the other teammates and how close we all are.”
For this current season, the team began practicing back in November. After five months of hard work and preparation, the varsity team played their first game on Tuesday, March 28. This game took place at North Penn High School in Lansdale. Unfortunately, the girls ended up losing 11-1. North Penn got three runs in the first inning, two in the second inning, and six in the fifth inning. Pennridge was only able to score one run in the first inning. Both teams put up a great fight, but the Pennridge Rams ultimately couldn’t pull out a win.

The next game that the varsity girls played was on Thursday, March 30. This game was yet another away game for the Rams, and it took place at Souderton Area High School in Souderton. Pennridge started off this game well by scoring one run in the first inning. Souderton quickly caught up by scoring two runs in the second inning. There wasn’t much action in the third inning. However, in the fourth inning, Pennridge scored a run and caught up for the time being. Souderton scored in the fifth inning and another one in the sixth. Pennridge gave it their all in the seventh inning and was able to score another run. This game ended up with an extremely close score of 4-3. Unfortunately, the Pennridge Rams ended up taking the loss this game despite giving it their all.

The most recent game that the varsity softball team played was on Tuesday, April 4. This was the Rams’ first home game, and it was played against Coatesville Area High School. Neither team scored in the first inning. Then, in the second inning, Pennridge came through with two runs. This continued into the next inning, where the Rams scored four more runs. In the fourth inning, no points were scored. Coatesville fought back in the fifth inning by scoring three runs. But in the same inning, Pennridge scored two more runs. During the sixth inning, Coatsvillle managed to score three more runs. However, Pennridge showed out by scoring seven more runs in that one inning. This game accounted for Pennridge’s first win of the season, ending in a score of 15-6, Rams.
After the first three games, Averi Dockery, a current sophomore at Pennridge High School, holds the most home runs on the team at the moment with two. Next are Grace Helbling and Ashleigh Kenworthy, both seniors, with one each.

If all goes to plan, Pennridge will play in 15 more games this season. This gives the Pennridge Rams many more opportunities to prove what they are capable of. Hopefully, the Pennridge Lady Rams softball team will be able to continue their winning streak and ultimately have a very successful season.

Sources:

https://pennridgerams.org/main/teamroster/id/3681656/seasonId/4696804
https://www.maxpreps.com/pa/perkasie/pennridge-rams/softball/schedule/