Wolverines softball on a roll

STAFFORD — At a time late in the season when teams need to come together and play their best, the North Stafford High School Wolverines are hitting their stride. At press time this week, they had won seven of their last eight, were 12-5 overall and had an 8-3 mark in the Commonwealth District.

“This year, we had a lot of younger non-experienced varsity players starting for the first time,” head coach Pam Kantor said. “But we’ve bonded together so much that we’ve helped limit the mistakes that hurt us earlier in the year. They’re now mentally prepared for every situation.”

Their lone loss in the last near-month came against league leading Mountain View High School on April 28. The Wolverines hung tough in a true pitcher’s dual. Wildcats catcher Megan Baltzell’s double in the eighth inning gave them a dramatic 2-1 win.

North Stafford had a tough time hitting Mountain View ace Rachel Watts on that evening. But for the most part, putting up runs hasn’t been so much of a struggle. They’ve tallied games with run totals of 29 against Freedom-Woodbridge, 16 and 15 against Potomac, as well as 14 on Colonial Forge.

This has been more than plenty in support of their start sophomore in the pitcher’s circle. Kelsie Barker was the tough luck loser in the low-scoring affair with Mountain View, gave up five hits while striking out nine.

But Barker is one of the district’s best in terms of victories, earned run average and leads the area with 184 strikeouts.

“I’ve been just trying to change up the sequence of pitches,” she said as to the key to her success. “I want to keep them off-balance.”

Her batterymate, senior captain Hope Lujan understands the importance of communication between the catcher and pitcher.

“I always try to keep her positive,” Lujan said. “I try to make her laugh and keep her spirits up when she may be having a tough outing.”

The team’s other senior captain is the versatile Chynna Williams, who has starred in center field and at second base.

“She’s a great all-around player,” Kantor said. “She’ll do anything that’ll help make our team better. As a senior, that takes a lot of maturity to do that, because you know in their last year that they want to play just one position.”

But individual accomplishments aside, this team’s greatest strength is the lack of selfishness.

“We absolutely love to come to practice and work with these girls,” Kantor said. “They listen intently to everything us coaches say. They work so hard, even when they’re not here (at practice). In my years, I’ve had a lot of great superstars, but superstars don’t make a team.”

Instead of just one or two players carrying the load for the Wolverines, Kantor and her staff have utilized the entire roster to get them in position to compete come playoff time later this month.

“There are 16 players on this roster, and all 16 contribute for us to win,” she said. “Keslsie has done a great job pitching, but without the others helping out, we’re not going to win games.”
North Stafford hasn’t had a problem winning games this spring, mainly because they haven’t had a problem with one another.

“There’s no drama on this team, Lujan said. “Now that we’ve gotten to know each other, we’ve played well together. We all pick each other up. There’s no reason to be negative.”

Brian Wright is a contributing writer for the Stafford County Sun. Reach him at info@staffordcountysun.com.