In 2023, the Salisbury High School softball team won its first game of the season and last game of the season.

In between the Falcons battled but were on the wrong side of the score. This past season might go down as a turning point for the team as it finished the year with a 4-16 record and won two of their final three games as the Falcons look to set themselves up for the future.

The team played this past season with just four seniors on the roster, giving coach Jane Brennan the opportunity to get a lot of varsity playing time for young players.

As the season went on, the young players progressed with each game. One big difference came in the pitcher’s circle where in 2023, Beth Carney was the only experienced pitcher on the roster and when she went down with an injury, players had to get on the job training as pitchers.

In 2024 though, the team truly started to develop young pitchers with an eye toward 2025 when Carney is off at college.

While Carney, who eclipsed the 300 strikeout milestone during the season, got most of the work, a pair of freshmen showed good progress as well.

Jenna Swoyer pitched in eight games and finished the year with a 4.28 ERA for Salisbury and Tessa Kemmerer pitched in nine games. Swoyer figures to be the number one pitcher for next season with Kemmerer likely getting more chances in games for the Falcons.

Carney also played a sizable role on the Salisbury offense and led the team with three home runs, 12 RBI and a .456 average on the season.

Just as the team developed pitching, the offense also showed signs of life as younger players became accustomed to playing at the varsity level. Freshmen Taylor Wagner hit .244 and Maddie Peifer hit .250 on the season.

One of the keys for next season will be to make more contact as the team struck out a total of 170 times on the season.

The 2025 season will have to play out before we find out just how good the young players will be and how far the team will be able to go. The fact is that a year made a big difference in the team and with a summer of development for players on travel and tournament teams, the Falcons figure to be able to win more games and with any luck, start to get recognized in the Colonial League.

While speed is not the most talked about part of high school softball, Carney and Riley Knecht combined for 26 stolen bases with 13 for each. Next on the list were another pair of freshmen in Wagner and Kemmerer with five each.

Seniors Carney, Gabby DeJesus, Knecht and Bailee Neitz will leave holes for younger players to step into next season.

The good news though is that Salisbury softball appears to be one of the up and coming teams in the 2025 Colonial League forecast.