If field conditions and weather permit, the baseball and softball seasons are scheduled to begin with a full slate of games week for varsity high-school teams in Arlington.
Two of those softball squads are a couple of defending champions of significant tournaments.
The Washington-Liberty Generals were the big Cinderella story last spring by winning the 6D North Region tourney. Meanwhile, the Bishop O’Connell Knights continued their dominance by finishing as the Division I state private-school tournament champion for the ninth season in a row and 25th overall.
Each team returns their ace pitchers from those teams, along with other key starters.
The Generals’ top pitcher again will be right-hander Emilie Doty, who earned the win in all 13 of W-L’s victories last spring. She will pitch at Tufts University in Massachusetts.
Doty is joined by pretty much the entire returning starting lineup from last season. Other starters back are third baseman Caitlin Miller, second baseman Nadia Foote, first baseman Alex Socknat, catcher Ava Lansbury and outfielders Grace Kane, Allie Malone and Kaitlyn Fado.
The Generals have games scheduled this week against West Springfield and Lake Braddock.
Players back for O’Connell are ace righty Katie Kutz, Grace Hussey, Alyssa Dickard, Sofia Anderson, Sasa Groome, Sarea Rollins and Sophia Taliaferro.
The Knights have opening league games scheduled this week against Bishop Ireton and St. John’s, then play two non-league games on March 19.
* Also in girls softball, right-hander Abby Kohan returns as the ace pitcher for the Wakefield Warriors, who had a winning record and enjoyed a region-tournament berth last season. Kohan will play at Dickinson College.
* Molly Kaufman will be a key returner for the Yorktown Patriots in girls softball.
* In baseball, four of the top Arlington players will be pitchers James Tallon and Ketz Murray for Yorktown and Jack O’Connor and Bobby McDonough for O’Connell. All four already have made college pitching commitments.
Tallon and Murray helped Yorktown finish 12-4, win the Liberty District tournament and advance to the region-tournament semifinals last season.
Other Yorktown returners are Chase Rubin, Jonan Carlson, Trevor McAndrews, James Pilot, Kyle Langley, Ben Langsam, Alexander Zur and J.J. Foti.
Yorktown has non-district road games scheduled this week against Chantilly and South Lakes. Three of Yorktown’s first four games are on the road.
O’Connell played a COVID-shortened season last spring, finishing 6-3. The Knights have three non-league games on tap this week to open their season.
* Returners for Washington-Liberty in baseball will be shortstop Quinn Brennan along with David Haley, James Thiriez and Patrick Ashley.
The Generals start play this week against non-district teams Oakton and Justice.
* The Wakefield Warriors finished with a 10-3 overall record last season with a 10-2 regular-season National District mark. The Warriors have two non-district games scheduled this week to open their campaign.
Players returning for Wakefield are Garrett Dougherty, Michael Guruli, Keegan Mahoney, Lorenzo Snyder, Michael Duncan, Charles Grove and Evan Smith.
With this past weekend’s snowfall that covered the baseball and softball with a couple of inches of snow, some of this week’s games could end up being postponed.