Hail to the Champs: WHS Girls' Lacrosse, Softball teams earn state titles

By Matt Pascarella

Windham High’s varsity girls’ lacrosse and softball both made program history on Saturday, June 21. Second-ranked girls’ lacrosse won the program’s first-ever Class A State Championship after it defeated top-ranked Kennebunk 12-9 at Fitzpatrick Stadium in Portland. Second-ranked WHS softball won its second-ever Class A State Championship in three years when it shut out seventh-ranked Edward Little 7-0 at Saint Joseph’s College.

Two Windham High School teams captured Class A
State Championships on Saturday, June 21. Top, the 
WHS Softball team gathers after winning its second
state title in three years by beating Edward Little at
Saint Joseph's College. Bottom, the WHS Girls'
Lacrosse team celebrates after defeating Kennebunk 
to win the Class A Girls' Lacrosse title, the first-ever
girls' lacrosse state championship for Windham High.
PHOTOS BY MATT PASCARELLA   

Both Windham teams had amazing seasons with lacrosse winning 17 games consecutively with only one loss during the entire season and softball finished their season 18-2.

“I couldn’t have asked for anything more,” said Windham senior Grace Joly. “I’m so in shock I don’t even have words. This team means everything to me. I’m so excited; what a great way to go out with a bang, it’s so exciting. We definitely just had to ... take it game by game. We had a really big winning streak and coming into this game knowing that we’re a great team, we can hang with them, we just have to believe. That was our biggest thing toward the end of the year. Believe in each other, believe in the coaches, believe in our fans.”

In the very first game of the season, Windham girls’ lacrosse lost to Kennebunk. From that game until the State Championship Game, they beat every team they went up against.

WHS girls’ lacrosse members include seniors Sophie Allen, Grace Joly, Lauren Jordan; juniors Abby Trainor, Neve Ledbetter, Demetria Nicholas, Elizabeth Baker, Mady Donnelly, Brianna Duarte, Alyssa Cooper, Olivia McPherson; sophomores Morgan McLain, Grayson Cornish, Gracie McPherson, Charlie Scanlon, Libby Hartwell, Avery Adams, manager Allegresse Kawaya; freshmen Brooklyn Roy, Anna Bowie, Morgan Clark, Maria Rose, Madison Buzulchuck and Lauren Valle.

“I think we just kept getting better – 17 in a row is pretty wild,” said Windham varsity girls’ lacrosse coach Matt Perkins. “The way the girls treat each other is second to none. I’ve been fortunate to be around some really good teams, and this is probably the finest team I’ve seen that puts each other first. Even though we have some dynamic players, no one is selfish; they are all about what’s best for the team. I think the mindset was we’re better than them. They beat us in the first game, (but now) we’re better.”

Windham junior Abby Trainor said it feels amazing to win a state title with this team. In her opinion, it’s the most tightknit team they’ve had in the history of Windham lacrosse, when you see they’re breaking scoring records and multiple teammates are scoring multiple goals, Windham is unstoppable. Trainor said in that first game with Kennebunk, they took a step back and assessed what went wrong. They came into the State Championship Game prepared; they knew what Kennebunk would do from watching film and when they did it, Windham was ready.

“It’s pretty crazy (to have won another state championship),” said Windham senior Stella Jarvais. “You never really know, how you’re going to end up throughout the season until playoffs. This team is so special because we just do it for each other, we’re not selfish in any way. That’s what makes it so fun to play on this team.”

Last year, Windham softball lost to Cheverus in the Regional Championship after being undefeated in the regular season. They did not want to feel what that felt like again this year. Preparations to overcome Cheverus in the playoffs began 52 weeks prior to when Windham beat Cheverus this year in the Regional Championship, 1-0.

“I think for us, and this is what I said to the girls before the game, ‘we were the underdogs all year long,’” said Gardiner. “No one thought we were going to get Cheverus, we played all year long as the underdogs. And that’s how Tuesday really went, we played as the underdog with that battle, with that fight and just because the news headlines may be say something different, we still need to go out there and act like we’re the underdog. These girls still went out realizing the job wasn’t done after Tuesday.”

WHS softball team members include seniors Stella Jarvais, Kyla Harvie, Lydia Marden, Chloe Edwards, Kennedy Kimball; juniors Oakley McLeod, Jezabelle Pinto, Nola Bryant, Lacie Higgins, Addison Caiazzo, Chloe Delewski; sophomores Kaylee Napolitano, Evelyn Anderson, Kiley Card, Sarah Smyth, Abhilasha Jain and freshmen Evelyn Robinson and Yani Kostopoulos.

“I’m so glad we were able to do this, after playing Cheverus last year,” said Caiazzo. “We knew that this is where we wanted to end; we wanted it to end (at the State Championship). We all grew up together, playing Little League. So being a close-knit team and pretty much a family, it was just amazing.” <

Windham High softball captures first Class A State Title

By Matt Pascarella

For the first time since 1995 when softball was Class B, Windham softball has captured the Class A State Championship. Ranked second in Class A South and facing Class A’s No. 1 ranked Oxford Hills, Windham took control of the game early and worked hard to churn out a 3-1 victory at the University of Southern Maine in Gorham on Tuesday, June 20.

Windham High junior Brooke Gerry, senior Hannah
Heanssler, and sophomore Kennedy Kimball hoist the 
2023 Maine Class A State Softball Championship
trophy after Windham won the title buy defeating
Oxford Hills. 3-1, at the University of Southern
Maine in Gorham on Tuesday, June 20.
PHOTO BY MATT PASCARELLA 

“No words can even describe it,” said Windham senior Hannah Heanssler, who dove for an amazing catch early in the game. “It’s the exact way I’ve always wanted my season and my career as a softball player to end and playing for this team has been incredible and I cannot put it into words how amazing it is.”

Heanssler said that going into her final prep game, she was going to use everything she had and was going to play all out and do anything for the team. She said playing with this group of girls she’s grown up with has made the season memorable.

According to Heanssler, everyone played their positions incredibly and their energy was amazing. She said everyone on the Windham team wanted to win and worked together to make it happen.

Oxford Hills put one run on the scoreboard in the first inning to take an early lead, but Windham answered in the bottom of the first when junior Brooke Gerry reached on an error and sophomore Stella Jarvais and junior Jaydn Kimball then walked. Sophomore Kennedy Kimball’s flied out and Gerry scored on a wild pitch. Jarvais was at third base ready to bolt; and bolt she did, scoring her team’s second run. Windham led 2-1 after one inning.

In the third inning, Gerry singled, and freshman Addison Caiazzo walked. Jaydn Kimball singled, scoring Gerry and Windham had a 3-1 lead.

“This is definitely surreal,” said Windham varsity softball coach Darcey Gardiner. “Our willpower earned this win. From Day One we have said one pitch at a time. The focus and the one pitch at a time motto is how we keep that composure to win. Making the adjustments when we’re up to the plate, making the adjustments when we’re on defense, every pitch you are doing something different ... I’m really proud of them for keeping their composure and pulling it out.”

Gardiner also said that this was the first time two females served as coaches during the Class A State Championship Game and it’s always a big deal when females coaches compete together.

After the third inning, the game went scoreless for over three innings, as both teams were evenly matched. Windham’s defense often left Oxford Hills runners stranded on base at the end of innings.

It all came down to the top of the seventh inning. Oxford Hills’ first two batters lined out and grounded out. On a 1-2 count, Oxford Hills hit the ball right to Gerry, who threw to first base for the out and secured Windham’s first-ever state Class A softball championship.

In the game, Gerry pitched 7 innings, gave up 4 hits, struck out 11, and only walked one Oxford Hills batter.

“It felt great, we really worked as a team this season,” said Gerry. “Staying focused and taking it one pitch at a time [led to the win]. We kind of got rattled a little bit in the first inning, but then we remembered one pitch at a time, ‘control the controllables’ and we came back in the bottom of the inning. Our communication went well, and in the dugout our energy was over the top.”

Windham had escaped a high-pressure situation point in the top of the sixth inning with two outs, with Oxford Hills runners on first base and third base. Gerry said that Windham had to breathe and remember they had each other’s back, trusting one another, and that’s exactly what they did. Those runners remained on base as the inning ended.

Gerry said nerves are a sign a good thing is coming, and the Windham team interpreted those nerves as a sign that they would succeed, but they were careful to not get too cocky about it.

Windham freshman Oakley McLeod said they played well together as a team and fed off each other’s energy. In hitting, fielding and all-around, she said that Windham shined.

“Our strategy was mental toughness,” said the Windham’s catcher, Jarvais. “Knowing the crowd was going to be big we had to dial in and trust each other and focus on pitch by pitch what we were going to do, and I think we did that very well.”

Jarvais said with every pitch it’s a different spin, a different call, a different mindset of how Gerry’s going to execute it. Jarvais said what Gerry did was that she dialed her in and trusted her. Their passion showed, and this was definitely a team win. <