By Roger Gordon

Correspondent

Whitney Holmes was used to doing things a certain way heading into her senior season as a member of the Ravenna softball team this past spring.

When new head coach Luke Darrah and his coaching staff entered the picture, they wanted things done their way and made a number of changes.

Holmes didn’t blink an eye.

“Whitney accepted those changes without question,” Darrah said of his star pitcher, who also played second base and shortstop. “She did everything we asked her to do and more. She

was very coachable, showed up every day, worked hard. She took criticism as well as anybody I’ve ever coached. I’ve had a few kids who could take the criticism and then turn around and do something with it, and Whitney was able to do that. She did it all year long. She took practices very seriously. She was a great teammate.”

So much so that the other players voted her team captain.

“Whitney is a very quiet young lady, but she was a leader by example,” said Darrah. “She always hustled, she never loafed. She came to compete, and that’s something that you don’t see very often with programs that are not really elite. She came to play every day, didn’t make excuses.”

Darrah did not mince words when asked what he knew about Holmes before he arrived.

“All I know about her first three years is that she pitched a lot, probably was overused,” he said. “She developed some skills obviously, and she became a very, very good pitcher this past season.”

The right-handed Holmes had a 3.05 ERA this past season, along with 71 strikeouts for the Ravens, who finished with an 11-13 record. 

It was the program’s most wins since 2017 when that edition of the Ravens won 10 games.

From 2018 through 2024, the Ravens had a combined record of 9-123 overall and 1-81 in Metro Athletic Conference play.

Offensively, Holmes helped her own cause by batting .414, second best on the team. She also had 10 RBI and scored 16 runs.

“Whitney was our best pitcher without a doubt. She did a great job. She had very good control, didn’t walk very many hitters,” said Darrah. “Batting-wise, she led off for us and started a lot of rallies. She had a couple weeks where opponents just couldn’t get her out. She just hit line drive after line drive after line drive. As a result, we ended up with a few victories. She was a very good base-runner, too.”

According to her coach, Holmes was much more than stats.

“She was very, very competitive,” he said. “We weren’t a great team. We became an average team to an above average team over the course of the year, which is a great testament to the kids and how hard they worked, and Whitney led that charge. I think her competitiveness helped her and the team tremendously. It’s hard to find kids who are competitive this day and age.”

Holmes received numerous accolades for her 2025 season:

• Most Valuable Player on her team
• First-Team All-Metro Athletic Conference
• Honorable Mention All-Northeast District
• All-Metro Athletic Conference Academic

Darrah will have some big shoes to fill next season.

“Whitney will be sorely missed. She’s one of those kids you wish you had for four years,” he said. “We’ll really miss her because of everything she brought to the table — not just as a player but the kind of individual she is, her work ethic and how competitive she was. She didn’t say a whole lot, but she spoke volumes with her attitude and her play.”