Western Wayne embraces youth movement in Lackawanna League softball action

VARDEN — Over the course of the past decade, Western Wayne has struggled a bit to attain relevance on the high school softball scene.

The ‘Cats haven’t had a winning season since 2009 when they went 8-6 and advanced to then semifinals of the District 2 Class AA tournament.

Last spring, in an attempt to break into the Lackawanna League’s upper echelon, coach Joe Romanowski made a bold decision. The skipper went all-in with a youth movement that saw his varsity lineup dominated by underclassmen.

“Hey, we were starting six and sometimes seven freshman,” Romanowski said of a team that went 1-13 in league action. “We obviously didn’t win a lot of games, but I think we started laying down a pretty good foundation.”

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And while the youngsters undeniably took some lumps last year, this season they’re already started to show flashes of the talent Romanowski hopes will propel them upward in the Division II standings.

“We can definitely swing the bats a little bit,” he said. “I’d put our top six hitters up against pretty much anybody. We’ve also got some pitching depth and the defense is starting to come around, too. We’re moving in the right direction.”

Weather permitting, Western Wayne will be back on the diamond Saturday at Lakeland. First pitch is scheduled for 11 a.m.

On-field leadership

Emily Romanowski and Raegan Palmer are leading the way offensively for Western Wayne so far this spring.

Romanowski is a multi-sport standout who also excels in basketball and volleyball. A battle-tested senior who catches and occasionally pitches, Romanowski leads the team in batting with a robust .438 average.

Palmer is a junior who’s coming off a stellar volleyball season. The second baseman bats in the two-hole and is currently hitting .389 with a team-best nine runs scored.

Trinity Graboske, Khloe Mistishin, Adysen Wargo and Hannah DeStefano are also making key contributions at the plate.

Graboske is a senior who plays multiple positions. She’s coming off a big junior year in which she batted .314 and was second on the team in hits. This spring, Graboske is once again swinging a hot bat with a .333 average.

Mistishin is a versatile athlete who pitches, patrols the outfield and plays shortstop. The hard-hitting junior bats clean-up and leads the team with six RBIs to this point in the young season.

Wargo is just a freshman but she’s already making her presence felt on varsity. Wargo pitches and plays the infield while batting third in the order. To date, she’s hitting over .400 with four RBIs and four runs scored.

DeStefano is a junior who anchors the infield at first base. She bats fifth and provides serious pop at the plate. Last year, DeStefano was among the team leaders in hits, runs scored and RBIs.

“This is just a great group of kids,” Joe Romanowski said. “I like this ballclub because they get along so well and they work really hard. They’re a coachable bunch and they’re getting better everyday.”

Flashes of brilliance

Western Wayne opened up its regular season slate with a home game against perennial title contender Holy Cross.

The ‘Cats dug themselves an early hole against the Crusaders, trailing 8-0 after two innings. However, they came roaring right back and played stellar ball the rest of the way.

Emily Romanowski paced the offensive attack, going 2-for-3 with two runs scored and a pair of RBIs. Palmer also slapped two hits and scored twice, while Graboske drove in two.

Even though his team ended up losing 11-7, Joe Romanowski believes the game served as a wake-up call.

“Holy Cross is a pretty good team and we outplayed them over the last five innings of that game,” he said. “I really think a light went on for some of our kids. They realized that they can compete with anybody.”

Western Wayne followed up this solid performance with its first win of the season, an impressive 10-3 thrashing of Riverside.

Wargo earned the starting nod and pitched a complete game. The young righty worked seven innings, allowing just four hits and no earned runs. She struck out five and walked two.

Romanowski and Palmer once again did the majority of damage offensively. The former went 2-for-3 with three runs scored while the latter ripped three hits and scored four times.

DeStefano went 2-for-4 with three RBIs and Mistishin drove in a pair. Wargo helped her own cause with two RBIs and two runs scored.

“We can definitely swing it a little bit,” Joe Romanowski said. “And we have a few kids who are instinctively very good at running the bases. If we can improve our defense and be more consistent pitching-wise, we’re going to be OK.”

This article originally appeared on Tri-County Independent: Western Wayne softball team battles in loaded Lackawanna League