The Mathews High School junior varsity softball team opened its 2016 season with a lopsided win over Lancaster, and, in the second game, the Lady Devils found themselves on the losing side of a blowout.

Mathews has three returning players from last season: sophomore Rebecca Mullins and freshmen Shayla Wheeler and Ashley Foster. The rest of the team is young, rostering one freshman (Jade Davis) and five eighth graders: Ellie Armistead, Hannah Robins, Hannah Smith, Lauren Dalton and Chesapeake West. Mathews traveled to Lancaster on March 15 for the season opener against Lancaster, beating the Red Devils, 16-6. Mathews put up 13 hits and batted .382 as a team.

The Blue Devils’ first loss came two days later against the visiting Rappahannock Raiders, as Mathews fell, 16-5, in five innings. With seven hits contributed by Hannah Smith, Ellie Armistead, Hannah Robins, Ashley Foster and Lauren Dalton and a .318 team batting average, it just wasn’t enough to bring in a win. The Ra...