On Oct. 8, the Spartans fell to the Fort Zumwalt Panthers in the second round of the District Tournament 6-0, ending their first season under head coach Zach Sheets.

The Spartans ended their season with a 5-20 record and finished last in the GAC South. The 2014 Spartans won eight more games than this years team, however the 2014 Spartans lost in the first round of districts compared to the second round for this years team.

To get to the second round, the Spartans upset the No. 4 seeded Pattonville Pirates 3-2 in eight innings on Wednesday.

According to several Spartans, the win against Pattonville was huge and did wonders for their confidence.

“Beating Pattonville really boosted our confidence in our playing abilities,” junior Maggie Sills said. “I think the confidence boost will carry us into next season.”

Confidence seemed to be a huge problem for the team the whole year, however sophomore Liz Harmon believes it improved toward the end of the season which helped lead to the upset over Pattonville

“We really didn’t mesh well at the beginning of the season, and I think it really showed. By the end of the season, our confidence and spirits really went up, especially with the Pattonville win,” said Harmon.

While their confidence might be strong for next season, they will have to wait until June of next year before the new season begins.

The new season, however, will be without seniors Sierra Johnson, Emilie Weinrich, and Danielle Seeley.

“The hardest part of our loss [to Zumwalt North] was that we knew it could be our last game that we would get to play with the seniors. It was a really emotional game,” sophomore Lizzy Orf said.

As Harmon put it, the loss of the seniors will impact the team on and off the field next year.

“The seniors were great leaders and always fun to play with,” said Harmon. “We’re really gonna miss those guys.”

Next year, the Spartans will be returning five seniors and six juniors compared to three seniors and five juniors currently on the team. In addition, Coach Sheets will have one year under his belt as his reign as the head softball coach will continue into next season.