YORK — As each year passes, players move on and others step in to take their place. This year is no different for the York Dukes softball team.

Three seniors said their good-byes to the York High School softball program, but what they left for the future will not be forgotten. Those three seniors, Dana Grenfell, Kailla Melby and Emily Kadavy, all made their mark in their careers on the diamond for the Dukes.

"Our seniors provided enthusiasm and team cohesiveness. They communicated well with all the players and incorporated additional fun into the season. They did a great job of unifying our team and taking the younger players in and making them feel like a part of the team right away," said York head coach Danyel Seevers. "Dana (Grenfell) had a very good year on the field, ended the year being selected to the second-team west division Central Conference team and led us in stolen bases. Emily (Kadavy) and Kayla (Melby) had great attitudes throughout the whole season even without a significant amount of playing time. They exemplified what it truly takes to be a team player and I am very proud of them."

Coach Seevers has always looked at each year as an opportunity to take the program to a new level and this team continued that tradition, posting the best overall season record since the start of the softball program. "The improvements made from year to year have really helped us continue to build a strong foundation. This year was no different. We had 21 girls out and all of them worked hard from day one," Seevers stated. "Our varsity was young and they adapted well to the expectations that were needed to win games. Our hitting and pitching continued to get better throughout the year. Defensively we struggled at times, but our kids continued to work hard at it. We really liked where our team was at before districts with the improvement from the beginning of the year."

This was a very young team that grew from the first pitch to the last and next season the Dukes will return a lot of very familiar faces to the roster. "With as young as we were the girls competed well and took our game to the next level. Our goal is to improve each year and continue to strive for a higher level and our kids are doing that. We knew we were in for a slight rebuilding year after we lost five quality seniors from the year before. The way our team continued to hit throughout the year and at the level they were hitting at was a big surprise for us during the year," Seevers pointed out. "Our team batting average was right at .350 which we were very happy with. The big concern going into the year was finding a catcher to replace Kira Stuhr. Freshman Adrienne Gocke stepped in and did a great job behind the plate all year. The other slight surprise was the level that Taylor Kadavy pitched at for most of the season. She was used sparingly as a freshman and was hurt most of the summer so we were not sure how much we would get from her and she did a great job all season."

The work the team will do from now and throughout the summer will go a long way in determining just how good they will be in 2012.

"We will return a lot of starters and contributors to our team next season. We believe that if our girls put in a good off-season of working out and competing, being successful in other Duke sports and a solid summer, that we will be a much improved team and have a chance to have a very successful season in 2012. As coaches we are looking forward to seeing these girls compete to the top of their ability and see where that puts us with the top teams in Class B. 2011 was a successful and fun season that the team is very proud of and we are looking forward to carrying York Duke pride into the 2012 season."

The team would also like to acknowledge the support they received this past season from their fans, coaches, parents and the student body.

"As a softball team we would also like to thank our student section for the phenomenal support throughout the season as they were without a doubt the best home crowd of the year," said Seevers. "We would also like to thank all the volunteers who help, our volunteer coaches and our help during practices and at games to make help make York Duke softball the best it can be."