Westfield seniors have ‘full-circle moment’

Sectional champs as freshman, lead Rocks to regional title

By RICHIE HALL
sports@readthereporter.com

If any senior class knows how to make history, it would have to be Westfield softball’s senior class of 2026.

The players in that group were part of history when they were freshmen, helping the Shamrocks to a first-ever sectional championship. Three years later, that class was an integral part of Westfield’s first-ever regional championship.

Four Shamrocks seniors – Shea Vohs, Annika Lawrence, Makayla Watson and Sofia Easterhaus – spoke with The Reporter on Tuesday, June 2, just minutes after Westfield won the regional. They reflected on their careers, and Easterhaus summed it up perfectly: it was “definitely a full-circle moment.”

“It’s really awesome to be on both ends of it,” said Easterhaus. As freshmen, Easterhaus said her class got to celebrate that year’s seniors. Now that they are the seniors, Easterhaus and her teammates were happy to get to play “with everyone else on the team for a little longer.”

“It’s so surreal to be on both ends of it,” said Lawrence. “With all the community we’ve built within the team, it feels amazing to be a part of it.”

“Starting off as freshmen with that energy and then coming back as seniors, continuing that legacy, making history, as a lot of people have been saying, it’s just been really special,” said Vohs.

Easterhaus and Watson were Westfield’s leading hitters this season, with Easterhaus batting .479 and Watson hitting at a .465 clip. Watson led the Rocks in base hits (53) and runs scored (35), while Easterhaus was second in base hits (45) and runs scored (27).

Lawrence contributed 15 runs scored, while Vohs threw 18 strikeouts in 31.1 innings, including the last two outs of Westfield’s semi-state game with Fort Wayne Carroll on Monday. The Chargers won 8-5, but not before Westfield made a seventh-inning rally, scoring three runs.

Vohs remembered two of the players that were seniors on Westfield’s first-ever sectional championship team, Maggie Roh and Allie Dolenc. Vohs said both players “went on to play in college and did amazing at both high school and college.”

Easterhaus is committed to play at Marian University, Vohs has signed with Case Western Reserve and Watson is committed to North Carolina State. Lawrence will attend Purdue University but will not be playing softball.

This senior class has indeed come full circle and made quite a bit of history for Westfield. While winning in the post-season was great, Watson mentioned something that is just as satisfying: watching the young players continue the Shamrocks’ legacy.

“It’s definitely rewarding watching them be so successful because, as juniors, we pour into them because they’re new and they don’t know what they’re doing at the beginning of the year,” said Watson. “Being able to help them out and get them to this position and make them trust their abilities is really rewarding.”