Out of the entire Stevenson girls’ varsity softball team there are only 3 sophomores, and one of them is Adelina Ertman ’27. Her uprising from little league and time in junior varsity led the varsity team to end their losing streak this season.
Ertman’s softball career had an early start, but it kept sprinting onto the feats of junior varsity and eventually varsity itself.
“I started playing softball when I was around six years old,” Ertman said. “I played on the same team for a while, and then by the time I knew it, it was already time to try out for high school”
Ertman’s teammate, Mikayla Ciesluk ’27 said she has been with Ertman since before she got JV and enjoys the positivity she has always brought to the field.
“She’s a very positive person on and off the field,” Ciesluk said. “It’s been really fun to see her develop in a bunch of aspects like hitting, pitching, and fielding.”
Once reaching high school and landing a place on the JV team in her freshman year, Ertman struggled to get off the bench amidst the competition from the juniors two grades above her.
“It was kind of competitive with playing time with the coach, and the fact that there were so many juniors on JV, it’s just more difficult trying to get playing time,” Ertman said.
The time spent in this position was temporary. Ertman wowed the coaches and landed multiple potential positions. Subbing for a varsity member was the start of something great for her.
“When I tried out for this year, I made JV, and I was told that I was top pick for JV captain and one of the top picks to be subbed up for varsity. About two weeks into the season, I was asked to sub up for a three-game tournament,” Ertman said. “I pitched the whole third game, and then later that week, I was asked to stay on varsity.”
The varsity softball coach, Fran Madonna, explains why Ertman’s dedication to the sport a reason for her to be placed where she is.
“Addie’s dedication in the off-season has really stood out to me. She’s always giving 110 percent and then when we needed a sub,” Madonna said. “I knew I would pick her because of her dedication and continuous hard work.”
While this was a personal success, less could be said about the team’s success this season. They a bad start that had a negative impact on the mindset of the team of the team for the following games.
“The season this year wasn’t going too great,” Ertman said. “We just weren’t in our best game or mindset most of the time. At one point, we had played 20 games and won none of them.”
However, the team’s first win of the season was eventually earned through an all-out push by the team. Ertman said the team played a double header against Warren Woods-Tower and won with a final score of 6-2.
In this victory, Ertman’s position was as a pitcher on first base and her coach said this is where she thrives the most.
“We’ve been moving people around, so we wanted to give her a shot there a tone of her other main positions and she did awesome there,” Madonna said.
Ertman reflects on what led up to this victory, and how positivity always helps.
“I like to have a positive attitude whenever I’m playing,” Ertman said. “I’ll strike out and still have a smile on my face. I’m just happy to play.”
