By Sami Moog, Special to The McLean Ear

MCLEAN, VA – The coach of McLean High School’s girls softball team attribute their capturing the AAA championship to the traditional winning trio: hard work, desire and teamwork.

“The win is clearly important to me and all the members of the team, especially the seniors, Gilbertson, McColgan, McCray, Sullivan and Sutherland,”  said Maurice Tawil, the girls softball team’s coach. “I am most proud for McLean High School.  This is only the second State Championship, in any sport, in the school’s history.”

The championship, won two weeks ago did not come easy for the 16-member team of freshman, sophomore, junior and senior players. “We practiced and worked hard 6 days a week since February 23, two hours a day.  The girl’s took a professional approach to their daily practices,” said Tawil . “Our accomplishments this year, win or lose, were a team effort.”

McLean High School’s girls softball team is led by two player-captains.
“During the State Championship Series, we were led by our Captain Lauren McColgan
 and our pitcher Jamie Bell,” Tawil says. “They played their absolute best in the biggest games of the year.”

Tawil, in his fourth season coaching, described the championship game as being a “lofty, yet attainable, goal.”

Another coach at the McLean, Joe Muskett said, “Girls softball is more intense than it looks, and the championship game was anything but.”

“We were one strike away from qualifying for the State Tournament last year,” Tawil said.  “This year, once our team was selected, we had a goal-setting session where we set a goal of qualifying for States this season.”

“After that session, the players ‘bought-in’ and we focused on that goal during good times and tough times,” the coach said.

“I hope the girls take away life lessons from this experience,” Tawil said. “I
hope they learned that by maintaining a positive attitude and pursuing a goal, anything is possible.”

The lessons for the coach: “I learned after coming close the past two years, that if I continued doing what I believed in and continued to work hard, even the most lofty goals are attainable,” Tawil says.

“It was an amazing win,” said Kathleen Veoni, McLean High School’s Student Activities secretary. “Just wonderful!”