OTHELLO — Last year’s 24-2 state runner-up Othello softball team is returning to the field with the goal of ending the season with a state championship.

“Everybody feels like we’re going to do as well as we did last year,” Head Coach Rudy Ochoa said. “But it is high school, and you never know. I don’t want to count my chickens before they hatch, but still, we’ve got some good hitters and pretty much the same team from last year.”

The Huskies started last season 16-0 and outscored their opponents by an average of 10.8 runs per game in wins and averaged 12.4 runs per game.

“I’m hoping that carries on from last year because last year we had a real strong hitting team,” Ochoa said. “We’re hoping to see the same thing.”

With all the success that Othello had last season, they only saw four seniors graduate from 2022’s roster. Nevertheless, the Huskies have had to fill the roles of three starters left by the graduates.

“We’ve got some good girls that are filling in,” Ochoa said. “We’re not going to be able to tell until we start getting into playing the games; things look a lot different in practice than when you’re out there.”

Junior Amarie Guzman said the roster adjustment has gone smoothly.

“It’s small adjustments,” Guzman said. “Overcoming that hasn’t been difficult.”

In order to help prepare for another state tournament run, the Huskies made sure to schedule a difficult non-conference slate. On the docket for Othello are matchups against Walla Walla, the 3A state runner-up; Shadle Park, the No. 4 seed in last year’s 2A state tournament; Moses Lake, who went 17-5-1 last season; Eastmont, the No. 4 seed in the 4A state tournament; Hanford, who made the 4A state tournament last year and Richland, who went 15-7 last year in 4A.

“I’m hoping that our hitting comes alive like it did last year,” Ochoa said. “(Playing against) 3A and 4A, because they get to pick from so many more people, they’re going to be faster in everything, on the bases and stuff. Just all-around softball, we want to be better at it. We’re hoping that’ll help us improve.”

During Othello’s state tournament run, the Huskies defeated West Valley (Spokane) 6-0, Port Angeles 6-1 and Lakewood 17-3 before matching up with Tumwater in the state title game, where they fell 13-3.

Senior Camryn McDonald, like many of her fellow teammates, said the state tournament game was motivation for this season.

“Definitely not wanting to feel that feeling that we felt last year again,” McDonald said. “So just using that as fuel to do better this year.”

Many of the players have seen action on the field with one another for years, which plays into one of the team’s strengths – camaraderie.

“Our team chemistry has always been pretty great,” sophomore Lovie Franco said. “We bond a lot.”

Staying hungry is a key theme throughout the 2023 Huskie squad.

“We’re hungry this year,” sophomore Emi Pruneda said. “We’re going for that state title.”

Ian Bivona can be reached via email at ibivona@columbiabasinherald.com.