The Lady Saints softball team has been teetering on the edge of a state championship the last couple of seasons. The team hopes to make it happen this year.

The Nansemond-Suffolk Academy softball team finished 21-3 last season. The Lady Saints spent the better part of their season ranked in the top three of the state poll and fell one game short of reaching the state title game. In the past couple of seasons, NSA’s season has ended in the state semifinals, and it is hoping things change this season. The Lady Saints have been one of the top teams in the state annually.

“The standard is still the same,” Coach Brittany Thornburg said. “We want to have a strong season, and we want to be able to win the big one.”

One thing that is different about NSA this season is that the team has no seniors on its roster. Recent seasons have featured strong senior classes, which have been a big part of the school’s softball success.

The Lady Saints do return Addy Greene and Madison Inscoe. Both were first-team All-State players last season. Also returning are Gabby Infranco and Reese Byrd, who were second-team All-State selections last season. With a strong core of talent returning, Thornburg believes the Lady Saints are hungrier than ever.

“The girls have worked hard,” she said. “We have a lot of talent on this roster. We just have to go put the work in. I think the new players on our team have bought into that mindset as well.”

“I think everyone wants to make each other proud,” Infranco said. “We are all working hard to accomplish this goal of states. We lost some very good seniors last year, so communication is going to be key for us.”

NSA is slated to play three games this week to start the season off. They take on Southampton High School Tuesday afternoon and Windsor High School Wednesday afternoon. They take on Manteo High School Friday.

“This week, we will kind of see where we are at,” Thornburg said. “We have a couple of girls coming back from basketball, and we haven’t been able to do much outdoors. So it’ll be really good for us to be all together and go play some softball.”