{"id":41415,"date":"2026-02-18T13:39:50","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T18:39:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/staging\/8357\/?p=41415"},"modified":"2026-02-19T16:53:41","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T21:53:41","slug":"lady-sharks-softball-team-opens-season-6-3-behind-standout-freshmen-class","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/staging\/8357\/lady-sharks-softball-team-opens-season-6-3-behind-standout-freshmen-class\/","title":{"rendered":"Lady Sharks Softball Team Opens Season 8\u20133 Behind Standout Freshmen Class"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Miami Dade College softball team is off to a strong (8\u20133) start to open the 2026 season, fueled by an explosive offense, developing chemistry and immediate production from a talented freshman class.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Through the first eleven games, the Lady Sharks have showcased depth\u2014and the numbers back it up.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As a team, the Sharks have scored 67 runs while posting a .362 batting average, a .406 on-base percentage, and a .502 slugging percentage, reflecting the lineup\u2019s ability to consistently generate offense and pressure opposing defenses.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Freshmen Making Immediate Impact<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Freshman outfielder <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mdcathletics.com\/sports\/sball\/2025-26\/bios\/deleon_makayla_z7jd\">Makayla Deleon<\/a> has quickly emerged as one of the team&#8217;s most consistent offensive threats.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Deleon has a .471 batting average, a .474 on-base percentage and a .471 slugging percentage \u2014 production that has made her a catalyst in the lineup.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cAs soon as I committed here, I knew we could do something special,\u201d Deleon said. \u201cWe have defense, offense, pitching \u2014 everything. This year is going to be special.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Fellow freshman outfielder <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mdcathletics.com\/sports\/sball\/2025-26\/bios\/mieres_jaylene_l92a\">Jaylene Mieres<\/a> has also stepped into a key run-producing role.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mieres is batting .417, has a .833 slugging percentage with a home run and ranks third on the team with five RBI.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI\u2019ve been putting in a lot of work at practice \u2014 really focusing on my swing and reading the ball,\u201d Mieres said. \u201cIt\u2019s exciting to see that work translate into games.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Head coach <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Gina <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">De Ag\u00fcero<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">credits the freshman class with elevating the team\u2019s level of play.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cA lot of our freshmen have played at a higher level before they got here \u2014 in high school or travel ball \u2014 so they have that fight to win,\u201d she said. \u201cThey\u2019re working hard, and we\u2019re working hard as a team.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Veteran Production Leading The Way<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sophomore outfielder Sofia Eriksson has anchored the offense early.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Eriksson is batting .458 and is tied with the team lead in RBI with\u00a0 five. That offensive output has allowed her to set the tone on offense while anchoring the team\u2019s defense in the outfield.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cMy role is to communicate and keep everyone energized,\u201d Eriksson said. \u201cEnergy is contagious \u2014 it sets the tone.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Shortstop<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/staging\/8357\/mito-powering-lady-sharks-offense-during-teams-resurgent-season\/\"> <b>Caroline Mito<\/b><\/a><b>, <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">who was the Citrus Conference Player of the Year last year, continued her stellar play this season. She is batting .462 with a .517 on-base percentage and a .808 slugging percentage.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sophomore Amanda Handa has been dominant on the mound, going 5\u20130 in five appearances with a 1.18 ERA in 23.2 innings pitched. She has recorded 20 strikeouts while posting a 1.06 WHIP.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIt\u2019s a huge impact when our returners take on leadership roles,\u201d De Ag\u00fcero said. \u201cThey may not be the most vocal, but they lead by example. Once they set the tone, the freshmen follow.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Offense And Fight Defining Identity<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The team\u2019s offensive output has been a consistent strength this year.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWe hit \u2014 we hit,\u201d De Ag\u00fcero said. \u201cWe\u2019ve been able to put a lot of runs together, and we didn\u2019t back down. We were never defeated. They picked each other up and played for each other, and it was nice to see it come together.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That mentality has defined the Sharks\u2019 early identity.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThey\u2019re resilient. They weren\u2019t going to bow down to anybody,\u201d she added. \u201cAll of our wins have been good team wins. We\u2019ve had different people step up in different moments. Even the dugout was in the game the whole time, talking and picking each other up. That\u2019s the foundation for a winning product.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Despite the strong 8\u20133 start, the Sharks\u2019 goals extend far beyond early-season success.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWe want to be conference champs, win states, and win nationals \u2014 but we take it one step at a time,\u201d De Ag\u00fcero said. \u201cIt\u2019s a long season, so it\u2019s about taking care of your body and bouncing back from anything that happens.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><i>Click<\/i><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><a style=\"color: #3366ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.us19.list-manage.com\/subscribe?u=4fc6146412415baee32007fd7&amp;id=b5cd3712dc\"><i> here<\/i><\/a><\/span><i> to subscribe to our bi-weekly newsletter, The Hammerhead. For news tips, contact us at mdc.thereporter@gmail.com.\u00a0<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Miami Dade College softball team is off to a strong (8\u20133) start to open the 2026 season, fueled by an explosive offense, developing chemistry and immediate production from a talented freshman class. Through the first eleven games, the Lady Sharks have showcased depth\u2014and the numbers back it up. As a team, the Sharks have [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13482680,"featured_media":41413,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[14,2749,2803],"tags":[3846],"class_list":{"0":"post-41415","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"category-kendall-campus","9":"category-softball","10":"tag-softball-preview"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Lady Sharks Softball Team Opens Season 8\u20133 Behind Standout Freshmen Class<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Freshmen outfielders Makayla Deleon and Jaylene Mieres both have a batting average above .400 and Mieres leads the team with a .833 slugging percentage while Deleon has a .471 slugging percentage.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/lady-sharks-softball-team-opens-season-6-3-behind-standout-freshmen-class\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lady Sharks Softball Team Opens Season 8\u20133 Behind Standout Freshmen Class\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Freshmen outfielders Makayla Deleon and Jaylene Mieres both have a batting average above .400 and Mieres leads the team with a .833 slugging percentage while Deleon has a .471 slugging percentage.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/lady-sharks-softball-team-opens-season-6-3-behind-standout-freshmen-class\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Reporter: The Student Newspaper at Miami 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