This March, Albuquerque Academy’s Varsity Softball team took second place in the Sandia Prep Invitational; an accomplishment that hasn’t been achieved for the last few years. “Each year is a little bit different; we played in [set] teams, and the brackets were set up differently,” Lois Wampler ‘16, one of the team captains, said. The girls played in a round robin tournament, which means each team plays all the other teams in their bracket.  At this year’s Invitational, Academy played East Mountain and Estancia, winning both games. Following these games, the Chargers played in the championship game against Moriarty.

The coaches have dedicated their time to working with individuals and finding their strengths and improving on weaknesses.The girls practice every weekday from 3:50 to 5:45, strengthening skills such as throwing, catching, batting, and running. “Throughout both [of the] round robin games, we were pretty even with both the other teams for a while. Then, at the end of both games we really found it within ourselves to hit really well and hold them on defense. I think that was cool to see. One person would kind of start off hitting really well, and that would make everybody else get it together,” Rachel Carey ‘17, another team captain, said. “It’s been really cool too because we’ve had a lot of injuries. I’ve been out, and one of our starting pitchers has been out, so we’ve had a lot of people step up and play where they haven’t practiced, or where they’ve never gone before,” Wampler said. Overall, the girls have found it to be a rewarding experience and see more success for the team in the near future.