Improving Gateway softball team ready to take a step forward

By: Brennan Valladares
Sunday, March 23, 2025 | 11:01 AM

Gateway softball hasn’t had many wins to celebrate over the three years Donny Holl has been coach.

Entering his fourth season with the program, Holl has overseen only four combined wins in the last three seasons. One of those wins came last year when the Gators went 1-16 and 0-10 in Section 2-5A.

While wins and losses are obvious measures of a team’s success, Holl will look beyond his team’s record to evaluate this upcoming season.

“My goal is we’re going to be competitive in games a lot more than we were last year,” Holl said. “We’re going to come out there and teams are going to say, ‘OK, this is a game now,’ and that’s our goal. … That’s how we’re going to measure (our growth).

“My goal is to show some of these other section teams, like, ‘Hey, they’re going to be formidable. They’re a team that we can’t just glance over.’”

This goal of being competitive builds off last season. While the record might not suggest it, Holl believes his team improved as the season went on, which is something he thinks will carry over into 2025.

“Maybe the wins and losses didn’t show it, and some of the scores didn’t show it, but we got better as the year went on,” Holl said.

“We got more cohesive as a group. We got more consistent as a group. We had people stand out and make more of an impact, and we had girls prove themselves that are stepping up this year as well, showing us that, you know, it wasn’t a one-time thing. They’re showing that they can do it, and they can compete at the level they’re at.”

Two of those girls — junior catcher Malia Clemens and sophomore shortstop Rylee Beavin — had big performances in Gateway’s season-opening win against Woodland Hills on March 18.

Clemens is one of two team captains for the Gators. In the 17-0 win over the Wolverines, she went 3 for 3 with a double and four RBIs.

“This is (Clemens’) third year starting,” Holl said. “She’s a great leader. … She holds herself to a high standard. She competes, and she’s a heck of a player, too.”

Beavin, meanwhile, tripled twice and had two RBIs.

Another key returner for Holl will be senior captain and second baseman Gianna D’Agostino. All three players represent the type of people Holl wants on his roster: committed hard workers who are good teammates.

“Those are the ones you need because they push themselves and they work hard when maybe nobody’s watching,” he said.

Freshmen Alex Brennan and Abbie Leff are two newcomers who are expected to step in right away and contribute. In fact, a majority of Gateway’s starting lineup is expected to be underclassmen. Holl isn’t worried about the youthfulness of his team, though, especially when considering the long-term developmental benefits.

“I’m not concerned about or worried about (the underclassmen) at all, because they’ve proven they can do it,” Holl said.

“We’re going to have half our lineup potentially be freshmen and sophomores, which is going to be a big turning point for us down the road because they get that experience. They get that live action game versus a very good section.”

That section includes Class 5A champion Armstrong and PIAA qualifiers Penn-Trafford and Latrobe.

While four wins in three years isn’t the gold standard for team success, Holl believes there are other units of measurement when it comes to that term.

“There’s times where you don’t need to use the record as a measurement for success,” Holl said. “You use, ‘Did you guys get better? Did you improve? Did you meet goals you may have had as a team that don’t necessarily result in wins and losses, but they result in what our program is becoming?’”

What the program is becoming is a place where girls can have fun playing a game they love.

“Softball should be a safe space from the rest of life, just like any sport should be,” Holl said. “So, when you’re on that field, you should be enjoying yourself — should be having fun. You should not be worrying about anything else. And so we try to make it a goal in … letting them enjoy it.”

Tags: Gateway