By Kirk Kern
Hailie Monkarsh was looking forward to her final softball season at The Meadows School.
She had played competitive softball since she was a kid in Northwest Girls Softball and then moving into travel ball and then to high school softball.
But one game into her senior season, it all ended. First, schools were closed due to the coronavirus crisis and with the closure came the suspension of the season. Eventually, it was decided that the schools would remain closed for the rest of the school year and her softball season was officially over.
Hailie will attend the University of Washington in the fall and won’t play intercollegiate softball there.
“This might be my last time playing on a team,” she said.
The hard part was that she had very high hopes for this season. When she first came to The Meadows School four years ago, the program was rebuilding. Last year, the Mustangs made it to the regional semifinals, losing to Needles. It was the first time The Meadows had made it that far since Hailie’s sister had played on the team.
“As soon as I walked off that field I was determined to get to state for my senior year,” she said. “I knew that we were going to be able to do it, and I wanted to make history.”
The season opened with a 13-1 win in a scrimmage with Western High. Hailie had three hits, including an inside-the-park home run. A few days later, the season was basically over.
“It was heartbreaking. I love softball and am truly passionate about it,” she said. “ I had spent the past three years preparing for my last season, and I am extremely upset that I’m not able to finish my last season of high school softball. I practice all year long because I wanted to be the best teammate and player I could possibly be.
“As I mentioned, our team improved drastically since my freshman year, and we all had high expectations for this season. My coach couldn’t even remember the last time softball went to state.”
Besides the success on the field, Hailie was helping plan the senior night festivities for the team.
“I always looked forward to my senior night because it was always such a special event, and I never would have imagined I would not be able to experience it,” she said. “I am still trying to come to terms with the fact that I am not getting a senior season.”
But the softball season wasn’t the only thing taken away during Hailie’s senior year. There will be no graduation procession or final assembly.
“We watch a slideshow and video that the school puts together for the seniors, and at the end of the assembly, we hold hands with a kindergarten and walk out of the gym,” she said. “It is a very special experience that gave me goosebumps every year as I see the seniors leaving high school behind, and it upsets me that I won’t be able to experience it.”
Besides softball, Hailie was vice president of the Women’s Empowerment Club and a member of the National Honor Society, National Spanish Honor Society and the Make a Wish Club. She was also a part of the Mustang Mentors, which is a club that assigns an upperclassman to a freshman or new student to mentor throughout their first year.
Hailie will study law, societies and justice at the University of Washington. She chose the school because she felt it had a sense of school spirit that she hasn’t really had a chance to experience while attending schools with small enrollment.
“I also wanted to stay relatively close to home so I can still be a part of my younger brother and sister’s lives,” she said.
Of course, Hailie may get a chance to see her siblings a little more with the uncertainty in opening college campuses in the fall,
“I am hoping we will be able to go to campus so that the transition to college is easier for me,” she said. ‘Unfortunately, orientation has already been moved to online. I don’t want classes to also remain online. It’s already tough to leave home, but with everything going on, it makes it so much worse.”
Regardless of whether she’s living in a dorm in the fall scouring the campus map on the first day of school looking for new next class, or sitting in her bedroom watching her teacher on a monitor, Hailie’s senior year will always be a memory, if not necessarily a fond one.
“I have been looking forward to my senior year for as long as I can remember, and I never in a million years would have thought it would be taken away from us,” she said. “The process of applying to college is so stressful, and I always told myself it will be worth it in the end when you can celebrate with your friends when you’re all going to your dream schools.
“The fact that we can’t celebrate together is extremely disheartening. Everyone talks about their high school graduations as if it’s guaranteed, but now we all know it’s not. I’m just hoping that we will be able to get back to normal soon.”