Hillgrove Softball
Anna Strickland
Anna Strickland
The Hillgrove High School Varsity Softball team has many outstanding players and an exceptional record from their past seasons. To find out more of what it is like to be a member of the team, The Talon conversed with a few of the well-known players for a deeper insight. Their years of experience ranged from four to eleven years.
For freshman Morgan McQuagge, who plays shortstop, an average practice looks like “doing infield and outfield practices and then we’ll hit, so practices are about two to two and a half hours long.” Sophomore Divina Checo, a catcher and 3rd base player, says that at her specific practices, they “throw then hit, then I usually practice at 3rd but now I’m practicing catcher because that’s what I play normally.” To sophomore Kenley Benton, a pitcher, an everyday practice consists of “a lot of defensive and offensive work like just really focusing on your glove staying down and getting your hips through the ball and everything.”
According to Morgan, her school life is affected because, “I just really need to focus on my academic life and if I can practice at softball, I can do all my work in class.” Divina does not feel that her academic life is affected by softball because she keeps up with both of them. Kenley says that, “It affects my academic life a lot because you have to really keep your grades up to be able to play because if you fail a class you have to sit out of the game which really pushes you to get that grade up right then and there so you can be able to play.”
When it comes to getting injured, softball players know what it is like. Morgan said she “broke my growth plate and tore my rotator cuff at the same time in my right arm and I had to sit out for a while but I’d rather sit out than make it worse and have to do physical therapy, so I fought through it.” Divina said “I dislocated my finger and then I dislocated my shoulder too. It was hard and I had to go through a really long recovery but I just had to be there for my team.” Kenley said she has not experienced a major injury throughout her entire softball career.
Each of these girls wants to continue playing softball in college because they are so dedicated to the sport, love playing, and enjoy spending countless hours of their lives with their teammates.
For freshman Morgan McQuagge, who plays shortstop, an average practice looks like “doing infield and outfield practices and then we’ll hit, so practices are about two to two and a half hours long.” Sophomore Divina Checo, a catcher and 3rd base player, says that at her specific practices, they “throw then hit, then I usually practice at 3rd but now I’m practicing catcher because that’s what I play normally.” To sophomore Kenley Benton, a pitcher, an everyday practice consists of “a lot of defensive and offensive work like just really focusing on your glove staying down and getting your hips through the ball and everything.”
According to Morgan, her school life is affected because, “I just really need to focus on my academic life and if I can practice at softball, I can do all my work in class.” Divina does not feel that her academic life is affected by softball because she keeps up with both of them. Kenley says that, “It affects my academic life a lot because you have to really keep your grades up to be able to play because if you fail a class you have to sit out of the game which really pushes you to get that grade up right then and there so you can be able to play.”
When it comes to getting injured, softball players know what it is like. Morgan said she “broke my growth plate and tore my rotator cuff at the same time in my right arm and I had to sit out for a while but I’d rather sit out than make it worse and have to do physical therapy, so I fought through it.” Divina said “I dislocated my finger and then I dislocated my shoulder too. It was hard and I had to go through a really long recovery but I just had to be there for my team.” Kenley said she has not experienced a major injury throughout her entire softball career.
Each of these girls wants to continue playing softball in college because they are so dedicated to the sport, love playing, and enjoy spending countless hours of their lives with their teammates.