May 5, 2026
By Leah Campos
Staff Writer
With a 7-10 record as of May 4, the varsity softball team is focusing on adjustments, communication and motivation.
Sophomore Alexandra Ruiz, a two-year varsity starting pitcher who reached her 100th career strikeout on April 16 in an away game against North Arlington High School, said the team’s greatest struggle this season has been adjusting to differences in pitching speed.
“When we see a faster pitcher, we need to adapt to the speed earlier on in the game,” Ruiz said. “[Our players must] watch her closely and really lock in on her speed [to] adjust their bat speed.”
Ruiz said being a second-year varsity player comes with new challenges.
“The [opposing] teams adjusted to my speed faster than they did last year because some of them have seen me before,” Ruiz said.
She said she enjoys being a pitcher.
“My favorite thing is being in control of what happens because… I trust my pitches, and I trust my catcher to call the right spots so they don’t hit as much as they can,” Ruiz said.
Like Ruiz, first baseman senior Ava Woolis, who has been on varsity for four years, said she and the two other seniors on the team, catcher Gianna Lembo and second baseman Aitana Lozano, play an important role in supporting the team after hardships.
“Whenever we lose, the whole team gets very down, and we’ve been there before [during our] freshman, sophomore [and] junior year[s]. We know what it’s like, so we share our insights and opinions to help them,” Woolis said.
She said this season’s games have brought mixed results.
“The [opposing] teams adjusted to my speed faster than they did last year because some of them have seen me before.”
“We’ve had some tough losses, and we’ve had to really reflect on that and figure out what we did wrong and lift each other up because some people get down,” Woolis said.
She said Head Coach Diana Auteri, who has led the team for the past four seasons, helps the players by taking notes during games.
“Then, the next day, if we have practice, we work on whatever she wrote down in her notes, and then she helps us and talks us through it,” Woolis said.
Third baseman freshman Olivia Glasser, who played baseball in middle school, said her transition to high school softball has been smooth.
“I think of [baseball and softball] as the same sport, so I didn’t have that much difficulty, and the team helped me a lot, like learning the new rules and learning the new position,” Glasser said.
She said the short time she has spent on the team has taught her important lessons.
“Tomorrow’s a new day. You can’t dwell on something that you can’t change,” Glasser said. “I can use that in life and in sports.”
