Windward Softball Off to Fast Start

Windward School has a new softball coach, and early results indicate the varsity team will have a successful season under Jelani Bandele.

After dropping its first game to Los Angeles Marlborough, Windward has reeled off three consecutive lopsided victories, outscoring Burbank Providence, La Canada Flintridge Prep and Santa Monica Crossroads by a combined score of 40-2.

Despite losing All-Alpha League Second Team outfielder Hilary Bernstein after she graduated, the Wildcats return with First Team All-Leaguers Alayna Held, a senior shortstop/second baseman, sophomore third baseman Hannah Holmes and junior pitcher/shortstop Nora Martin-Resnick. Also back are sophomores Danielle Joy (second base/outfield) and Ashley Smith (first base), who were Second Team selections as freshmen last spring.

Smith and team captain Martin-Resnick, also play on Windward's varsity girls basketball team, which captured its first state championship last Saturday in Sacramento with a 51-47 win over Albany St. Mary's in the Division IV game. 

Martin-Resnick pitched three shutout innings with nine strikeouts and Joy had three hits and five RBIs in a 20-0 drubbing of Providence on March 14. In a 7-1 triumph over Flintridge Prep two days later, Martin-Resnick pitched five and one-third innings, striking out seven while giving up just two hits. Then, in a 13-1 victory at Crossroads on March 17, she had three strikeouts in three innings.

Last season, Martin-Resnick pitched 29 innings with 43 strikeouts and a 1.21 earned run average. Held, who led the team in slugging at .955 last season, is off to a quick start at the plate with a .357 batting average and a .571 slugging percentage. Holmes is leading the team with a .545 batting average, eight runs scored and a .688 on-base percentage while sophomore center fielder/pitcher Jamie Hobson has a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage.

Windward (3-1) opens Alpha League play April 12 at Pasadena Marshall (3-5) before traveling to Penmar Park two days later for a nonleague game against Marymount. Defending league champion Maranatha moved to the Olympic League and Crossroads moved to the Delphic League this season. Replacing those schools in the Alpha League are Lancaster Paraclete and Downey Calvary Chapel. 

The Wildcats went 53-35 overall in five seasons under their previous coach, Shelley Beringhele, including a 15-8 record last year when they finished second in the Alpha League, beat Lone Pine in a wildcard elimination game, then lost to Oak Hill in the first round of the Southern Section Division VI playoffs.