Records are meant to be broken, yet it is not common nor easy to do so. Once in a great while, a team will have everything going for them and it all just clicks together perfectly, such as the case of the Junior Varsity Girls Softball team. This year, they achieved the feat of breaking a junior varsity school record by going 21-2 on the season.

Usually, The Hoot only covers varsity teams. However, the junior varsity season was too special to ignore.

“I think we have had an extremely successful year in terms of our record and in terms of kids getting better throughout the season. It was a fun season as well. We had a good time together while working hard and coming out with 21 wins,” JV coach Kim Schmidt said.

The junior varsity was not the only Windsor softball team to have a superb season–the varsity team went 16-12 and was even ranked in the St. Louis area for part of the season.

Apart from the ample amount of talent and dedication on the junior varsity team, sophomore Delana Mentel stood out as a major powerhouse pitcher and tough hitter.

“I think the season went really well considering we had 21 wins. Our team worked really well together. Defense was always there as well as our bats, so it was all good. The freshman definitely brought in positivity. As team members, as teammates, we need the positivity going around to just support each other and get everything going,” said Mentel.

During the season, the JV Owls won the Ste. Genevieve tournament and took third in a tournament at Festus.

While this season has been one for the record books, Schmidt and fellow returning players are hoping next year’s season will live up to the impressive legacy set up by sophomores moving up to varsity.

“The kids that will play JV next year and the kids that will move on need to focus on working hard, getting better, and not being satisfied with how things went this year for them. They need to focus on what they need to do to get better, especially those who are moving up next year to the varsity level,” said Schmidt.

A record breaking season might set ambitious expectations towards upcoming years’ achievement, yet Schmidt understands that success must be managed one year at a time.

“We always want the same thing: for the kids to work hard and do the best they can. We had a lot of talented players this year, and they were able to perform day in and day out. Sometimes it’s hard, when you are successful, to stay focused and continue to succeed, but they were able to do that each day. I think that’s why they were able to get the record they did,” Schmidt said.