Diamond Bar High School softball team looked like a powerhouse in its final game of the season, dominating Claremont, 13-2. But an earlier six-game losing streak during league competition left them in fifth place, finishing with a 6-9 record.

According to junior Carolyn Deutsch, the girls motivation during the game was knowing that this was the last game of the season and they wanted to finish strong.

The girls scored five runs in the first inning of the game. Sophomore Emily Ruhl and senior Elizabeth Wilson both helped the team by scoring three runs each, while Ruhl also had a homerun and four RBI.

“I feel like it was a learning process for all of us and we are extremely young. We started five sophomores and two freshmen so we are excited for the future and I feel like the groundwork was laid for great things in the coming years,” head coach Kurt Davies said.

Top performers included sophomore Sarah Zepeda, who had a batting average of .475 along with seniors Ellen Lasko, who hit .348, and Wilson, who batted .340.

While the record was disappointing, Davies said the team took major steps toward success for following seasons, despite their losing record.

“This season went well, I enjoyed the relationship with the girls and I think that we took a lot of positive strides that are going to help build a good foundation for the future,” the first-year softball coach said.

Although they struggled during the second half of the season, the girls were still able to learn from their daily practices.

“We tried to have a standard practice plan that we followed every day and I believe that the key to having a successful season is continuity and doing your best to work hard everyday and then take it out on the field in games,” Davies said.

Ultimately, the team will take this season as a learning process to better themselves for the future.

“I think that this softball season was a good beginning for a new era of varsity softball. We learned more about our strengths and weaknesses. We will use this season as a building block for bigger and better things by building on the foundation that we have established this year,” sophomore Liliana Ruvalcaba said.