With the amount of turnover between graduating classes at the high school level, there rarely appear opportunities to repeat, and even fewer chances to get redemption.

But for the Otto-Eldred Lady Terrors softball team, which returned 11 letter winners from last season, in 2022, they have gotten the chance to do both.

In terms of a repeat, the Lady Terrors defended their 2021 Northern Allegany League title, posting a 10-0 record. But more importantly, O-E finished with a regular-season record of 12-1 and a chance to win a District 9 Class A title that evaded them last year.

O-E did not leave anything to chance in the regular season, winning its last 10 games. In addition, the Lady Terrors dealt shutouts in seven of their wins.

Often, opponents’ goose eggs came because of O-E’s Bri Heller and Abby Wolfe.

A junior, Heller backed up a dominant 2021 campaign with an improved 2022 at the plate and on the mound. To coach Roger Veilleux, Heller was the cog that made the Lady Terrors run with her pitching performances.

Heller’s relentless work ethic and experience on the team rubbed off on the rest of the team and ultimately instilled a standard of success that the team met.

“She just never quit,” Veilleux said. “I mean, she’s motivated and she never gets herself down, and actually as a result, this whole team never gets itself down. Nothing really fazes them. They always believe they can win.”

Wolfe was second in the O-E rotation and registered zero walks. She also played first base and hit out of the designated hitter spot, anchoring a powerful lineup that averaged a 10.8 run margin of victory and 11.07 runs per game.

The O-E lineup did not lay back and let opponents come to them this season, but instead attacked, inducing the 10-run mercy rule in nine of their 12 victories.

“The whole goal this season has been to treat everybody with the same respect you would treat a DuBois or whatever,” Veilleux said. “And sometimes we started a little bit slow or whatever, but those girls ultimately were always trying to get rolling, and once they got rolling, they have been hard to stop.”

In terms of redemption, the Lady Terrors had put themselves into a position to serve some.

During the spring of 2021, the Lady Terrors put together a similar regular season campaign to 2022, producing a perfect Northern Allegany League season and reaching the District 9 Class A playoffs as favorites. However, they were quickly eliminated in the quarterfinals against Clarion-Limestone.

After a near-perfect regular season in 2022, O-E was seeded second in Class A, given a 5.19 power rating and matched up with seventh-seeded Clarion-Limestone in the quarterfinals again.

“After how last season ended, we had pretty high goals set for this year,” Veilleux said. “They had a pretty big letdown last year losing in the first round of the playoffs, so when the season started this year, they had a pretty high goal set to get through and get back to where we were trying this thing out again.”

But Veilleux adamantly believes this team is different and is much more confident in its chances of winning a district title, thanks to its four seniors and experience.

“It seems like last year the team got maybe a little sidetracked or lost focus. Things were a little off-balance,” Veilleux said. “But now, this year’s team seems to really be focused on doing the things they have to as leaders and are really focused on the softball season.”

The Lady Terrors closed the season with seven wins over the final two weeks, which Veilleux cited as just another season for confidence. Beyond this season, O-E will continue to be a contender for league and district titles thanks to a widespread number of grade levels contributing to its victories in 2022.

“It’s actually been really good because, between our grade levels, it is pretty well spread out, so we should be pretty good for the next couple of years,” Veilleux said. “But it definitely helped us out a lot this year.”

But for the Lady Terrors, the next week remains about putting their league title and luggage of past losses behind them and focusing on the next opponent. For O-E, that will be the Lions Monday at home.

“I’m happy that we’re playing Clarion-Limestone again, but really it’s no different than playing any other team,” Veilleux said. “This year, it’s just about taking on the next opponent.”