Warren Woods Tower softball is off to a dominant start in 2024 season

The Warren Woods Tower Titans’ 13-0 win over the Warren Mott Marauders, who entered Monday 8-4 and unbeaten in MAC Gold play, might send signals out that this team is, indeed, good.

But for those paying attention, the whooping and now 8-1 record should be less of a pleasant surprise and more of an expectation.

“I think we’re going to have a target on our back regardless all season long,” said WWT head coach Lance Sell. “Last year we were 23-6 overall. We started out 16-0. I think that a lot of teams, especially in the league, I think they want to beat us. I understand why.”

Six of the Titans’ eight wins through April 22 have been by double figures. Their first two wins this season came against Detroit Country Day and Port Huron, then they beat West Bloomfield and John Glenn. A 4-2 defeat to Grosse Pointe South, who is now 12-1, is the lone blemish on their mark early.

“When we lost to Grosse Pointe South, it was devastating,” said pitcher Lily Thompson. “But picking ourselves and reaching this point now, it’s amazing.”

They’ve won their last four games by an average of 14 runs. Their two most recent wins were shutouts from the hands of Thompson.

And only calling them shutouts is actually a disservice — not only did Thompson hold Cousino and Mott without runs, she held both teams without hits in the three and five inning wins. She combined for eight innings with zero hits, one walk and 16 strikeouts in the two games.

But she wasn’t interested in talking about herself.

“The last couple games have been amazing for all of us,” Thompson said. “It’s a team effort — no one plays by themselves. We’ve been a very (good) consecutive hitting team this year and it’s been amazing.”

Thompson’s deflection to “team” over “me” isn’t by mistake — the senior, along with the rest of the team, have been taught that everything happens thanks to the collective effort of the Titans and not one person. In fact, in the Monday win over Mott, Thompson’s no-hitter was kept intact in the fifth inning thanks to a diving catch by center fielder Abbigail Mika.

Speaking of Mika, she’s another in a long line of talented players throughout the Titans’ dugout. Her performance has earned her a scholarship to play collegiately at Texas Tech.

“We’ve got some key pieces, but they’re easy to coach — they’re very coachable,” Sell said. “They’re good kids. All of them are good kids, and they represent this community and this school district the way I want. They’re doing it the right way, because I tell them all the time: it’s about representing this place the right way.”

All 12 players from the 2023 Tower team that went 23-6 returned for this season, and their improved level of experience plus a few new pieces — freshman third baseman Gabby Lewis and Center Line transfer outfielder Eisa Lautenbach — have the Titans setting their expectations high.

“You need to have lofty expectations,” Sell said. “It’s a league title, a district title and then get into regional play and see what we can do. I’d love to get a regional title here for Warren Woods Tower. I think, with the girls that I have, it’s attainable. We just got to continue to work, and everything’s going to be great.

“I think the sky’s the limit with this team. They worked very hard in the offseason. My pitchers and catchers have been throwing since October. Six in the morning here at school. They’ve done a lot of work. It isn’t surprising to me to see what they’re doing.”