Roughly halfway through their year, York Softball just keeps on winning.

Coming off a close, grind-it-out, 3-2 win over Lyons Township, the Dukes offense exploded in a 16-0 victory over Maine West, pushing their record to 15-1 on the season.

Audrey Kosman, senior, pitched a shutout, but the whole team chipped in at the plate.

Gabby Magnifico, junior, got the Dukes off to a fast start when she ripped a triple off the outfield fence, driving in two runs. Sarah Milkowski, senior, later opened the floodgates when she connected for a 3-run home run midway through the afternoon.

The Dukes next game is Friday at 4:30, when they take on Hinsdale Central at Bryan Middle School. Come out and support a hot team!

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Abby Solem, junior, fielded some questions after the game about the ongoing season.

York-Hi: What does it mean to be 15-1 halfway through the year?

Abby Solem: It’s the best feeling in the world and it is so crazy! We are all just playing pressure free and our record and stats are showing it. If you had asked us pre-season if this would be our record we would all probably call you crazy but it’s awesome to prove to everyone how good we are.

YH: What does it mean to have great senior leadership on the team?

AS: It is awesome!  For the most part it has been the same team from our run down state in 2013 so we have all grown as a team together since then. Because we have been together so long and know each other so well the leadership displayed among the upperclassman is great. Everyone is always on the same page and behind each other. It really brings us closer as a team because our leadership is so great.

YH: Does this team have what it takes to make a run at the state championship?

AS: Absolutely. We not only have the talent but the camaraderie to make a deep run in the playoffs.

YH: What does the team need to do to reach that goal?

AS: We just need to keep playing as a team and having fun together. The great thing about our team is that we are all friends before we are teammates and that makes it so much easier to be a good teammate. If we can just keep working together and supporting each other than we will get it done. It has been awesome because our lineup is so deep that 1-9 we have the ability to get the job done.

YH: How does it feel to have the support of your friends, family, and York as a whole?

AS: It is great, people have generally been pretty supportive of the softball team so it is nice knowing that the community and school is behind us.

YH: Describe the defining moment when you really saw how good of a team you were a part of.

AS: I don’t think it was one moment. I think that after my freshman year when we beat Trinity that was the moment I knew we were good then, but with this team it is completely different. We know that we are capable and we have come back from behind late in games and we have put up some huge hitting numbers. I think that the first game of the year against Benet, which is a respected and good team, when we went out and slaughtered them I think it set the tone that we were going to be good. And we have just kept proving it game after game.