Westfield's Seniors Honored With All-District Softball Selections

The enter Friday’s Northern Region tournament as the top seed, where they will face .

Under head coach Dean Ferington’s direction this season, the Bulldogs finished 9-1 in Concorde District play. Even more impressive is the 32-2 Concorde District, and 39-7 overall record, the Bulldogs have accumulated over the past three seasons.

Despite the amount of success that he’s accomplished during his tenure at Westfield, Ferington remains modest about his achievements.

“The kids do the playing, not me,” said Ferington with a laugh.

While Ferington won't take too much credit for Westfield’s success, fellow Concorde District coaches will. Five other Concorde District head softball coaches voted for Ferington as the 2011 Concorde District Coach of the Year earlier this month.

Additionally, a staggering seven Westfield softball players earned First Team All-Concorde District honors, the most of any team in the district.

They include Jess McNamara (SS), Jenn Goodman (P), Carrie Otroba (1B), Jackie Martinez (OF), Frankie Martinez (UTIL), Alex Bohrer (2B) and Alex Tenney (RF) earned the honors.

Jess McNamara was named Concorde District Player of the Year and Jenn Goodman was named Concorde District Pitcher of the Year.

McNamara led the Bulldogs in home runs (5), RBI and batting average. Despite finishing the season as the Concorde District’s Player of the Year, she flew under the radar of several Division 1 softball programs earlier in the season, mainly Virginia Tech.

McNamara had her sights on attending Virginia Tech from the beginning, but they did not recruit her early in the season. However, Tech couldn’t ignore her for long. This fall McNamara is headed to Blacksburg, Va., as a member of the Hokie softball team.

“I’ve coached Jessie in Little League so I know her very well. She’s just an outstanding player. She’s a quiet leader, but leads by example. She’s an even better person. Other coaches have commented on how fundamentally sound she is. She’s the real thing. Virginia Tech got a steal,” said Ferington.

Of the seven players given All-Concorde District honors, five are seniors. Westfield’s senior class will be remembered as one of the most successful in school history.

Highlights of their four seasons at Westfield include: winning the 2008 Northern Region tournament as freshmen, winning three consecutive regular season titles, and winning back-to-back Concorde District titles.

“We have high expectations of the softball program every year. They’ve won since they’ve got here, they know how to win,” said Ferington.

The team (16-4) defeated  6-3 on Monday to . Following the Bulldogs’ victory, McNamara was named Concorde District tournament MVP. Jenn Goodman, Keona Gaines and Jackie Martinez were also named to the All-Tournament team.

With a team as consistently good as Westfield has been over the past four seasons, it comes as no surprise that many of the team’s seniors will be playing in college next season. In addition to McNamara, five other Bulldogs have signed national letters of intent to play at their respective schools in 2012.

They include Frankie Martinez (Radford), Jackie Martinez (College of Charleston), Jenn Goodman (Queens College), Alex Tenney (Mary Washington), Alex Bohrer (Shepherd).

As the curtain begins to close on the career of Westfield’s senior class, they will try to make one more run at replicating the success of their freshman season, which saw them win the Northern Region tournament. Whatever the outcome, they have already done enough to leave an indelible mark on Westfield softball history.