GRIDLEY, CA (MPG) - The Gridley girls’ softball team celebrated the senior class of 2023 with an offensive explosion as the Lady Bulldogs beat the Winters Warriors 15-9 in a non-league victory on Wednesday, May 3.

As the end of the regular season creeped closer for the seven seniors on the Lady Bulldogs roster, the day was about them as they held a pregame ceremony and memories along with future goals were announced.

Gridley head coach Tammy Carr expressed to the Herald this was a fun group as it was noted in the pre-game ceremony that all of the seniors have played softball for 13 years.

“I’m proud of them, I’m going to miss them and I am excited to see what they’ll do in the future,” Carr said.

The Lady Bulldogs outpoured the offense as they had 21 total hits, which is the second highest this season and seven players had multi-hit games.

Gridley (14-4, 4-2 Butte View League) junior pitcher Maddie Garcia gave up two big innings of offense to Winters, but with a solid defense behind her and a high-powered offense, the Lady Bulldogs weren’t going to lose on senior day.

Garcia struck out seven en route to her third consecutive win in the circle in place of sophomore ace Reese Stevens as she is dealing with a finger injury. 

Gridley put runs up in all six innings that they hit during the game by hitting rockets all over the diamond.

Lady Bulldogs senior shortstop Kennison Cota exclaimed to the Herald that it has been a fun year, but also a weird one with how the rainy weather in March forced a lot of rescheduling.

“It gets busy the last couple months of being a senior and an athlete,” Cota told the Herald.

She added that her and fellow seniors made it a priority to enjoy their last season as one because they have all played softball with one another for a long period of time.

Kota went two-for-five on the day with three runs-batted-in (RBIs) and a double.

Gridley senior outfielder Becca Hamman mentioned to the Herald that the class of 2023 are professionals to adjusting with schedule changes as they began their high school freshman year with COVID -19. 

“We’re used to working around different obstacles, so I feel like we have the skill set to adjust,” Hamman said. 

Hamman went three-for-four at the plate with a double and scored three runs during the game. 

The Lady Bulldogs finished up their BVL schedule this week as they hosted Las Plumas on Tuesday and traveled to Orland on Thursday. It was a crucial week for Gridley to cement their playoff status in the standings as the Lady Bulldogs were tied for sixth place in the May 1 playoff points system published by the CIF Northern Section.

With this being the second consecutive year of the Lady Bulldogs making the playoffs, Carr was the first person to express there were so many contributions to how this team has been successful.

She named, appreciated and gave a lot of credit to former head coach Jessika Galloway and Cooprider as they helped groom the girls as freshman and sophomores into the program.

Gridley made the playoffs for the first time in 20 seasons last year as Carr and husband Ron took over the program. Tammy appreciates and credits her help this season from Joe Dunning as Ron moved over to help be a part of the baseball coaching staff this season. 

Tammy finally gave all the credit to the softball team as they have worked hard and told the Herald they deserve everything they have gotten and so much more.

Brackets for the softball playoffs will be posted this upcoming weekend and games begin next week.