Just eight games into the regular season, the Wakefield Warriors girls softball team has already won as many games as it did during the entirety of last spring.
On track to surpass its 2025 win total in the Liberty District, as well, the high-school squad began this week with a 7-1 overall mark and stood 4-1 in the district. The team finished 7-8 overall a year ago.
Coach Taylor White, a former standout all-district shortstop for Wakefield who graduated from the Arlington school in 2015, believed her squad had potential for success, despite a roster that includes only three seniors.
“Coming in, we knew we had a team with a lot of good hitters,” said White, who played softball in college at Saint Peter’s University in New Jersey. “All the way through the lineup, we can hit. That’s a big help.”
One of those top hitters through eight games has been sophomore Lucy Strawn with a .519 batting average. She has four home runs, a double and 10 RBI.
Junior Kira Zoeller has two homers, three doubles and eight RBI and is batting .391. Sophomore Tatum Oliver is batting .481 with two doubles and 10 RBI, and ace pitcher and sophomore Regan Hughes is batting .481 with seven doubles and six RBI.
Leading the eight freshmen on the team is Noelle Mitzen with a homer, eight RBI and a .357 average. Her junior sister, Julia Mitzen, has two doubles and a .368 average, and senior Hannah Nilame is batting .385 with three RBI and a double.
Others hitting well are senior Reece Wilder (.250), sophomore Ava Stearns (.250), sophomore Laura-Kate Gwilliam (.235, five RBI), freshman Grace Angel (.400) and freshman Payton Jackson.
Hughes has a 4-1 pitching record and has struck out 32 batters in 36 innings.
“Regan does it all for us,” White told ARLnow.
Other pitchers with wins are freshman Elle Edens and senior Olive Jeng, and freshman Karis Lee has nine strikeouts in five innings.
Wakefield’s only loss entering this week was a 1-0 setback against the Langley Saxons, a team expected to be a district, region and state playoff contender this season. That loss came after the Warriors won their first seven games and averaged 11.3 runs per outing in those contests.
Wakefield opened the season with a 9-8 home win over Lake Braddock. Other key wins were over Arlington rivals Yorktown, 9-7 in nine innings, and 8-4 over Washington-Liberty. Wakefield had not defeated Yorktown in a number of seasons.
The Warriors had 12 hits in the win over Yorktown. Hughes had three doubles, Noelle Mitzen had two hits and four RBI, Zoeller doubled and had two hits and Strawn homered and had two RBI.
Hughes was the winning pitcher, working all nine innings. She struck out six and threw 144 pitches.
Wakefield lost to Yorktown by 11-1 and 10-2 scores last season.
Strawn homered and doubled in the win against W-L. Hughes doubled, had two RBI and was the winning pitcher; Nilame, Zoeller and Oliver each had two hits; and Gwilliam had two RBI.
Noelle Mitzen had Wakefield’s one hit in the loss to Langley. She had a clutch three-run double in the win over Yorktown.
Others on the 19-player roster are junior Kelly Duarte and freshmen Grace Ham, Quinn Hampton and Maggie Daigle.
“Our goal from here is to improve every game,” White said. “Our players are very good at self awareness and have the right mindset. They are very excited to be winning, and they are glad to brag about that some and give Wakefield a good name in softball.”
