With March only just beginning, so is the spring season for athletics at Sunlake High School. One of the more popular teams for both the players and spectators alike that Sunlake has to offer is softball. Sophomore Ava Kudlinski, number 17, is particularly fond of the sport. “I’ve been playing since I was, like, five,” she begins, “so I had always been planning to play softball in college, and you kind of have to play softball in high school in order to get into the college level. I played last year as well, and I made varsity freshman year.”
When asked what she enjoyed most about being on the team, Ava responded, “I like being able to hang out with my friends, since a lot of my good friends are on the softball team too.” Being really close with the team allows Ava to truly thrive in the softball environment, as she knows she’ll always have her teammates to rely on for positive reinforcement and support. Athletic teams aren’t only about the sport itself or winning competitions, it’s also about building strong connections and good sportsmanship among the other players.
On Tuesday, February 24th, the Sunlake Softball team had their first game against Cypress Creek, which they won 10-0. “We started out kind of shaky, we walked a batter,” Ava clarifies that this is when a pitcher throws four balls without the batter swinging, resulting in said batter being granted first base. She continued, “but overall it was, like, a pretty big blowout. We came back and we won by a lot.”
The team’s next game was on March 3rd at Nature Coast Tech, and while it is now known that Sunlake won 2-0, Ava expressed her expectations for how the game would go prior to that evening. “I think we’re probably gonna do really good. I heard they have ok pitchers, but I don’t think it’s anything crazy.” She mentions how Sunlake also has really strong pitchers on the team as well as skilled batters, which she was certain would give them an advantage.
Ava has a fielding percentage of 0.945, which is great considering a perfect fielding percentage is 1.000. This essentially indicates that she is a exceptional defensive player. Even so, Ava remains ambitious with what she wants to accomplish this season. “I want to make it past districts this year, like, for the entire team. For me, I want to have at least over 300 [0.300 out of 1.000] for my batting average.”
