Coming into this year it was clouded with a bit of mystery for the Royal Valley Panthers softball squad as they were looking to revamp their roster after the departure of seven seniors.

Head coach, Michelle Finnegan came into the season with a roster that only featured a pair of seniors, three juniors and eight sophomores, but knew that the group possessed talent to have success and success they did have. Panthers capped off an undefeated Big Seven League season on Wednesday with a sweep of Hiawatha in 21-3 and 13-0 wins, securing themselves their first ever league title in softball in school history.

Royal Valley started off the season opening up with a double header versus Wamego, which ended up being their only non-league games due to weather causing havoc on spring sports this spring and the Panthers loss both games. Those two losses would be the only time the Panthers saw the loss column for the rest of the regular season closing out the season on a 12-game winning streak, sweeping every Big Seven League foe.

Success started to come with a pair of one-run wins over Jeff West in which they scored eight and nine runs. Then the offense continued to blossom as the Panthers scored 10-plus runs in their next 10 games winning them all, while outscoring their opponents 155-75 on the season and touting a team batting average of .348 and on base percentage of .415.

Offense was led by sophomore, Jaycee Worrell (reigning MSCSports "Athlete of the Week") has she lead the team with a blistering batting average of .517 while registering 30 hits, 16 RBI and 21 runs scored. Worrell was joined by two others who touted .400-plus batting average with over 55 at bats on the season, as senior, Megan Schultz and sophomore, Kaylie Parker posted averages of .412 and .434 on the season. Schultz lead the lead team in extra base hits with nine (all doubles), while Parker lead the team in homer's with two and lead the team in RBI 's and runs scored with 21 and 23, respectively.

While, offense seemingly produced on a night-in-night-out basis the pitching tandem of senior, Schultz and sophomore, Kailiegh Gray-Milligan was formidable all season. The Panthers posted a team ERA of 3.55 on the season and had a slightly better than 2-1, strikeout to walk ratio. Schultz in 45.2 innings posted a 4.14 ERA with 26 K's and only 14 walks on her way to a 6-1 record, while Gray-Milligan registered a 3.02 ERA with 38 K's and only 16 walks on her way to a 6-1 record, also.

Panthers have accomplished great things this season but it’s not quite over as they now turn their sights to Regionals were they are the number one seed in their Regional and will play Monday in Atchison against Highland Park at 4:00pm (game will be broadcasted on 103.9 KNZA). Three more wins separate Royal Valley from continuing to make history this season, as they would make the state tournament for the first time if they can win three more games.

While the Panthers look to continue to build upon their success this year in pushing towards state, one thing is for sure the future of the Panthers softball program looks bright building on the success from this year.