Connetquot High School girls varsity softball coach Michelle Goodwin invited the softball teams from the district’s two middle schools to play on the artificial turf at the varsity field on Tuesday, May 3. This Connetquot School District Middle School Softball Challenge is a game that students, players, parents and coaches from Oakdale-Bohemia Middle School and the Ronkonkoma Middle School look forward to every year. Coach Goodwin thanked the visiting players and coaches for working so hard to get their teams ready for this year’s challenge.

In all honesty, the ultimate score of the annual contest is not the most important factor. Of course, the players on each team see this as an opportunity to earn bragging rights for the year. The coaches encouraged the girls to play their best, be confident, and to remember that next year these “opponents” will be their teammates.

At the end of the game, the scoreboard showed that one school had more runs than the other, yet the teams lined up and acknowledged their future teammates. The annual Middle School Softball Challenge was another success for the community, as both teams finish their regular seasons, and look forward to playing together at Connetquot High School in 2023.