Over the past 15 years, the Seneca softball program has been as dominant as any in the area, averaging 26.3 wins per season with seven Class 2A regional championships since 2010.

Fighting Irish fans can expect more of the same this spring, as Seneca returns eight starters, including its ace pitcher. Last year’s ballclub posted a 34-2 record, won the Tri-County Conference, captured a regional championship, and was eliminated by eventual 2A state champion Beecher in a 1-0 heartbreaker on Seneca’s home field.

“It’s hard to hide that we bring back a lot of talent from a team that advanced to a sectional final the last two seasons,” said Irish coach Brian Holman in his sixth season with a 136-31 record. “With that being said, we hope to start where we left off last year.

“We’re going to have some young girls sprinkled in this year, but overall, we should be solid at every position. Our lineup is the biggest question mark; both losses last year were 1-0, but we’re going to do our best to prepare to face some of the best arms in the area.

“The goal is that we have our returning players take the next step offensively.”

That’s a scary proposition for Seneca’s opponents, as the Fighting Irish lineup was awfully potent last season and backed by even better pitching and defense.

Headlining Seneca’s eight returning starters is senior P/IF Tessa Krull, selected All-TCC first team, ICA All-State second team, Times All-Area first team and 2025 Times Softball Player of the Year. Krull, who’s committed to Indiana State University, posted a 23-1 record with a 0.97 ERA and 251 strikeouts over 151 innings pitched last season. She also hit .373 with three home runs and 36 RBIs.

Four other players are back after earning Times All-Area honors last spring – junior 2B/SS Emma Mino (All-Area first team, All-TCC first team, ICA All-State third team, .407 batting average, five home runs, 38 RBIs, 52 runs scored, zero errors); junior P/IF Hayden Pfeifer (All-Area and All-TCC second teams, 11-1 with a 1.22 ERA and 142 Ks over 69 innings, .412 average, four HRs, 39 RBIs, Illinois State University commit); junior OF Graysen Provance (All-Area and All-TCC second teams, .478 average, 20 RBIs); and senior 1B Camryn Stecken (All-Area honorable mention, .339 average, three home runs, 35 RBIs).

The other three returning starters are junior OF Aurora Weber, junior 3B Kaylee Klinker and senior catcher Lexie Buis (All-TCC second team), each of them multi-year starters.

Sophomores Brynlee Hunt (OF), Morgan Starwalt (IF), Kylee Rowley (IF) and Kaydynce Wardlow (C), and freshman utility players Marlie Lissy and Amelia Weber, round out the varsity roster and will be asked to contribute.

“We play a really tough schedule with half of our games being against ranked teams or teams receiving votes [in the ICA preseason poll],” Holman said. “We’re going to have to fill the leadership void left by Alyssa [Zellers] and Audry [McNabb] graduating, but the hope is to be ready for postseason action and give ourselves a chance to win another regional championship in a really talented area of the state.

“The good news is that we’ll find out right away if we’re ready or not. Our first nine games in March are going to test us, but that will only help us prepare and improve as the season goes on.”

The Fighting Irish’s schedule looks to be full of tests, beginning with Thursday’s scheduled season-opener at home against Geneseo. Other nonconference powerhouses on the slate include Gardner-South Wilmington, Wilmington, Normal U-High, La Salle-Peru, Joliet Catholic, Serena, Manteno and Ottawa, in addition to the Tri-County schedule and a pair of high-level tournaments.