Spring is in the air and so are the softballs at Wiregrass Ranch High (WRH).
The softball team embarks on the 2017 season with high hopes. After going 9-12 a year ago, the 2017 Bulls are preparing for a season with something they haven’t had, well, ever — a quartet of seniors, all of whom have signed to play collegiate softball.
Veterans Jaime Valenta, Sam Hiley, Alexis Ridolph and Kameron Aitken will lead a Wiregrass squad with hopes of making a little bit of school history.
The Bulls have never won a district title and despite going 9-6 outside the league, were 0-6 last year in Class 8A, District 4, a division filled with some of the better Hillsborough County softball programs.
However, if there was ever a year to make some history, it could be this one. Hiley, Aitken and Valenta were WRH’s top three hitters from 2016, and along with Ridolph make up the top four batters in your typical Bulls lineup.
Valenta provides the speed, and has been the team’s lead-off hitter the last two seasons. The right-handed centerfielder has signed to play at the next level with St. John’s River State College.
As the leadoff hitter, Valenta’s job is to get on base and then steal some, and she did both well last season, batting .377, including .428 over the final eight games. She led the Bulls in triples with four, and stolen bases with 15 in 16 attempts.
Valenta has 32 steals for her career.
“I’m the table-setter,” she says. “I enjoy the leadoff position, I’m more of a contact hitter. My teammates hit me around.”
Aitken, the Bulls’ shortstop, signed her letter of intent in November to play at Florida International University. Aitken brings a .973 fielding percentage over from last season, with just two errors in 21 games at arguably the game’s toughest position.
She hit .422, second on the team, and led the Bulls with four homers and 30 RBI.
Hiley, who is signed to play collegiate ball at Edward-Waters College in Jacksonville, can also play catcher, but is more of a utility player, able to fill in at third base, left field or wherever she is needed.
“I’m like the Band-Aid,” she says.
Hiley’s bat, though, can sometimes leave the opposing pitcher’s arm needing a Band-Aid. Last year, she led the Bulls with 30 hits in 65 official at bats, for a team-best .462 average. She was second on the team in runs scored (19), RBI (21), doubles (5) and homers (2). She carries over a six-game hitting streak from last season into this one, which officially opens Saturday, February 11, at Dunnellon. The Bulls home opener is tonight, February 15, 7:30 p.m., against the Land O’Lakes High Gators.
Hiley’s versatility is shared by Ridolph, who has shifted between second and shortstop in her tenure at Wiregrass and batted .317 last year. A Hillsborough Community College (HCC) signee, she’ll join her older sister Kaitlyn there, for a year.
“It feels unreal, being a senior,” Ridolph said. “I saw my sister and my friends graduate and I still can’t believe it’s actually my senior year now.”
WRH head coach Yamani Vazquez is delighted to have such a talented and experienced senior core, which will be backed up by some impressive younger players like junior Kacie Lemanski (.382) and sophomore Miranda Perez (.379), plus a sophomore-laden pitching staff.
“It’s exciting, it’s a great motivation for the younger players that the seniors are college recruits,” Vazquez says.
It wasn’t too long ago they were just starry-eyed freshmen themselves, fighting older players for playing time.
“I don’t think people consider just how fast the years go by,” Hiley said. “I remember when I was a freshman, Jordan Pierceall (a WRH senior at the time) told us that the years go by faster than you think, and I was looking at her and laughing. Now, I’ve blinked and it’s my senior year.”
Senior night will be held on April 13, against district rival Freedom High.
“I remember decorating for past Senior Nights,” Valenta said. “Now, it’s going to be decorated for us. I probably won’t cry but I don’t know.”
No comment yet, add your voice below!