Senior night is a tradition most high school sports teams engage in. On Tuesday, April 11, the softball team celebrated their seniors during their home game against Alonso. The game ended in a loss for the panthers, but the night was memorable for many of the team members despite this.

“My favorite memory [from my four years of being on the varsity softball team] is hitting a homerun in the bottom of the seventh against Tampa Catholic,” senior Erin Fields said.

Playing a sport for many years teaches players a lot of important life lessons since the players spend a lot of time learning from their coach and each other.

“The biggest life lesson I’ve learned is how to manage my time efficiently and be completely committed to a team or whatever else I am involved in in my life,” said Fields.

The night began with each of the three seniors walking out onto the field with their families. While they did this, an announcer read off a “good bye” letter that each girl had written prior to the game.

These letters consisted of favorite memories, lessons the girls learned and expressions of gratitude towards their friends, family members, team members and coaches who helped them throughout their time on the softball team.

“I learned to be a leader and keep the team up and [be positive] and it was special because it was honoring the seniors who’ve been on the team for a while and spent a lot of time and hard work playing softball,” junior Hannah Lynn said.

The game began with team captain Fields catching the first pitch. The pitch was thrown my Fields’s mother, who has been the team mom for multiple years.

The other part of senior night is all of the pictures and the posters. Many students went to the game with hand-made posters for the seniors and hung them up or held them up at the game.