The Reed softball team was a steamroller last spring on their way to the program’s first state title since 1998. On Friday, they were awarded their bling.
Fourteen of the sixteen players on last year’s roster were present as the three-time defending regional champions were given their state championship rings at a ceremony in front of the school’s entire student body and staff.
Former seniors Cassy Walsh and Leah Pringle were unable to attend.
“It’s so crazy still,” to-be senior shortstop Kenzi Goins said after the ceremony. “That moment there was, ‘oh my God,’ we just did this for our school. It wasn’t just a personal thing at that moment. We won it for our school.”
Head coach Jon Wunder was handed the microphone and introduced the team as a whole to the at-capacity gym and the state champs were welcomed to a loud ovation.
PURCHASE PHOTOS
“Here’s the good thing,” he said to the student body. “We just lost two kids (Walsh and Pringle) to graduation. It’s a bad year to be wearing purple.”
He proceeded to introduce each girl individually. To-be junior pitcher Julia Jensen, who was named an all-american by numerous outlets, was showered in MVP chants.
The Nevada verbal commit was 34-2 with a 0.80 ERA for the Raiders. She struck out 346 batters compared with just 31 free passes. At the dish, she hit .477 with seven home runs and a team-high 43 RBIs.
Jensen said she will wear the ring occasionally in fear of damaging it but Goins has less conservative plans for her newly-acquired jewelry.
“I’m going to wear it all the time, look how pretty it is,” she said. “It’s so shiny.”
Wunder did not let players on the team see the rings before Friday morning’s ceremony. That doesn’t mean they didn’t try.
He said numerous players tried to come with excuses to swing by his house to “pick something up” knowing he had the rings but he’s coached girls long enough to know better.
Walsh and Pringle, however, both already had their rings.
Reed, which went 7-0 in the postseason, outscoring its opponents 46-6 along the way, finished the season 37-2.
Nathan has covered local sports for The Daily Sparks Tribune since September 2013. Follow him on Twitter: @Trib_Shoup.