The Chesapeake College women’s softball players made a ritual of pulling out a cowboy hat often for one of the best things the game offers – a home run.

The Skipjacks clubbed a school-record 53, which broke the old mark by 10.

The loudest cheers started when a Chesapeake player hit a home run and got mobbed by teammates at home plate with a cowboy hat waiting. The celebration carried into the dugout, sometimes lasting as much as five minutes.

“We were like, ‘Oh gosh, there goes another one’,” said sophomore pitcher/outfielder Hannah Schmitz, who led the team with 14 home runs and had 40 RBIs and hit .423 from the lineup’s fifth spot. “It happened almost in every game. It was so exciting.”

It was even surprising to interim coach Danny Stubbs. He lost his three best power hits from last season. His two daughters, Cassidy and Megan Stubbs, and Madison Gentry departed the program after combining for 39 home runs in 2022 and 2023.

“We spent a lot of time hitting in the cages,” Danny Stubbs said of 2024. “With a lot of rain, we had to be indoors, so there wasn’t a lot to do except practice hitting. But I was not expecting a big power surge. There’s nothing better than hitting a home run, and many were line drives.”

That left coach Stubbs feeling the Skipjacks were never out of any game no matter what the score. Two freshmen, infielder Erin Bowen (13 home runs) and catcher/outfielder Laura Hughes (11), also led the power packed lineup.

“We can beat any team we play,” said Stubbs, whose team finished 17-17 overall. “There were a lot of games where we were down a few runs and we came back. We were hitting extremely well, the averages were really high (hit .423 as a team) and we scored a bunch of runs.”

The offense came through at one of the most important parts of the season—the final stretch of the regular season.

The Skipjacks went a perfect 4-0, beating Cecil College and Anne Arundel Community College each twice in a double header. Chesapeake outscored its rivals, 56-15, in those games.

Sophomore pitcher Brooklyn Stulir picked up in the first game against Cecil College, yielding one earned run and striking out four in four innings.

The Skipjacks hit a combined nine home runs in those games. Bowen hit two home runs —  including going 3-for-4 with five RBIs in a 13-3 romp of Anne Arundel Community College on April 27.

Freshman third baseman Becca Sawyer and freshman infielder Loren Tucker each belted a homer in the other victory over AACC, a 12-9 win.

Chesapeake’s 4-0 stretch helped gain two home games against Frederick Community College on May 6. Unfortunately for the Skipjacks, they lost the double header, 6-4 and 11-6.

“We had a decent season,” Stubbs said. “We should have won a few more games than we did. But I know the girls had fun this season. We were just about in every game. The team never gave up, and that’s what I really liked about them.”

For more information about Skipjacks softball, please visit the 2023-2024 Chesapeake Softball Roster web page.