Spring sports are here and with that comes one of Shadow Ridge’s most prestige sports, Shadow Ridge softball. When thinking about softball at The Ridge, people think of a winning culture and championships. In 2018, Shadow reached the state tournament but got sent home early, but in 2019, the Mustangs won all of the gold glory defeating Coronado 13-3.

A member of both of those teams was none other than senior, Kyanna Galvan. Galvan got called up to varsity for the state tourney as a freshman and contributed with excellent field play.

“I was so grateful to have the opportunity to play up and contribute in any way that I could for our team.

The same thing occurred the following year when we won state, but it was a little different due to the fact that I had a whole year’s worth of varsity experience during state in 2019. Not like my freshman year where I was a bit nervous, not only it being my first time playing varsity, but during the state tournament? Yeah, pretty scary.”

With the Coronavirus canceling all spring sports in 2020, the team never had a chance to “run it back” as they had major inspirations to do so.

“Even though we lost a handful of seniors following our state championship win, we still believed that we could compete with the best teams in the state. I think we were mid-practice before the season started when we were informed that our season was going to be canceled and, man, it was heartbreaking. A couple of teammates and I were crying serious tears while still in shock because we had never dealt with anything remotely close to the pandemic, and it was a lot to take in. What really sucked though, was how the class of 2020 sofball girls were stripped of any chance of finishing out their high school career with a senior softball season. It was their chance to be the top dogs on campus, being heavily respected on the field with everyone knowing that they were going to go out swinging. And little did I know that three-fourths of my senior year was going to be stripped away as well. Not that it is anyone’s fault, obviously, but it all is so unfortunate.”

Galvan speaks on what she has been doing during the pandemic and her time off from Shadow Softball to prepare for her final season with the team.

“For the most part of the pandemic, it was quite difficult to stay active, but I did what I could, going out for a slight jog or doing some at-home exercises. Once certain things started opening up, my club softball team started back up and we practiced and had plenty of tournaments so I think I have warmed up enough to be able to give it my all this senior year, however different it may be, I am going to soak in the moments and create memories to last forever.”