Now the team to beat; Mavericks set sights on repeat
· Yahoo Sports
Sep. 4—MOSES LAKE — The Moses Lake Mavericks (15-1) enter the 2026 season with a new perspective after winning the programs first ever 4A slowpitch state championship in 2025. Instead of chasing a championship, the Mavs are looking to defend it.
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"The girls are excited," Head Coach Mike Hofheins said. "Defending a state title is not something that a lot of people get the opportunity to do. It's a really cool opportunity, challenge and responsibility for us to see if we can get there again and make some noise."
Hofheins knew last year's squad was special just by the way they carried themselves.
"I've been part of a few winning teams, and there's a vibe, a confidence, a swagger — I don't know what the word is, but the girls really had most of the season," he said. "Probably starting with our first couple games, it crescendoed throughout the year, their confidence and just how well they played. I hope we can replicate that again."
Hofheins noted in the past four seasons, it was Chiawana that everyone was chasing. Now it's the Mavs.
"Every time we play Chiawana it's an easy pep talk," he said. "You're facing the defending state champs. You got to get up. Now we're going to get that, and there's a responsibility to not let up. There's a responsibility to work hard, and I think it'll be a fun challenge for us."
After graduating Hayden Morris, Samantha Kling, Lila Johnson, Alina Lopez, Addie Reffett and Anisa Valdez, the Mavs have a lot of crucial roles to fill this season. However, the Mavs carry a lot of their depth into this season, Hofheins said.
"If you're that caliber of team, you're supporting players, and even the subs are pretty darn good," he said. "If you're not starting on a state championship team, you're probably starting on every other team in the state."
While they'll be a younger team this year, the confidence the Mavericks have has not waivered. They'll return a few key contributors in the batting lineup from last season, such as Maya Martinez, Avery Getzinger and Avanie Avalos.
"Getzinger had a huge year for us last year," Hofheins said. "Kind of came out of the woodwork and shined in the latter half of slowpitch and then all through fastpitch. Her confidence is going to be huge. Obviously, Maya, her swagger doesn't match her physique, she's very confident. She's one that I call a gamer for sure. We had a handful of freshmen that got significant playing time last year, and they've basically been through two varsity seasons, so they have a junior feel to them in some respects."
With the amount of depth Hofheins and the Mavs feel they have, they're loaded with a few good problems to have, he said.
"We've got so many girls that it's like just where are we going to put their bats in the lineup," Hofheins said.
As they look to the Big Nine Conference landscape this season, Hofheins expects it to be another year of a three-way battle between them, Eastmont and West Valley among other teams that may rise this season.
"Just like always, it's going to be us three fighting for two spots to state."
Aside from chasing the accolades that come with slowpitch softball, Hofheins loves the process more than anything — even all the way down to basic field care.
"It's just fun to be out here with the girls," he said. "It's fun to drag the field. It's fun to be out playing. So getting to compete again, it's a weird deal because no other coach really gets essentially two seasons with a pretty similar group of girls. Other sports don't really have that — it's fun. I'm excited to meet the dozen newbies that I've never met, other than seeing them at Lake Lifts and stuff in the summer."
The Mavs begin their season at home with a doubleheader against Sageview Sept. 10 with the first game at 4 p.m.