Janelle Lorsch wiped away tears with her Arlington High School softball T-shirt Monday in Yutan.
The head coach was huddled with and speaking to her 2022 team one more time after its 10-2 Class C-2 Subdistrict Tournament loss. Minutes later, after she was done speaking to each player individually, she turned to an empty cornfield opposite the diamond and took a moment to herself.
“You take the time to reflect, and I've been so blessed to coach great kids all the way through,” Lorsch said.
The Eagles — and their seven-member senior class — finished the season 12-13 with an eight-run loss to Freeman in their first game of the C-2 tourney. Lorsch called it “uncharacteristic,” but it did nothing to sully her relationship with her 12th-graders.
“Four years with them, it feels like their your own kids,” she said. “You just have to smile, and tell them they did a good job and they worked hard.”
Arlington fell behind Freeman quickly, though. The Falcons led 7-0 after one inning and led by as many as nine after a two-run homer during the third inning.
The Eagles' Ireland Erixon tried to chase the long ball down, but stumbled over the snow fence acting as an outfield wall before she could get to it. She later tracked down a long fly in the fourth, but her team still needed runs to extend their season past the top of the fifth inning, trailing 9-0.
Looking to avoid the early, run-rule finish, AHS' Tessa Spivey led off the frame with a walk. Senior Emery McIntosh then recorded a one-out single through the infield to set up what would be classmate Cadie Robinson's final at-bat. The career leader in Eagle RBIs delivered a two-run double, forcing a bottom half of the inning.
“She's come in clutch so many times,” Lorsch said. “And I was so happy for her because, up until that, she hadn't got a hit yet.”
The coach wanted all of her seniors to have the chance to go out that way — with big hits.
“Cadie can always say that her last at-bat was a double,” she said.
Freeman responded during the bottom half of the inning, however. It produced a 10th run, ending Arlington's season by run-rule.
It ended the senior Eagles' careers, too.
Lorsch said she can't wait to see what the Class of 2023 does next.
“It's only the beginning for them,” she said, tears welling up behind her sunglasses again.
