"It was okay," coach Ron Lehman said of the season. "Our goal was to be over .500 and we didn't quite meet that. Part of the reason was because Rachel (Drees) was injured and couldn't quite pitch the way she wanted to."
While the Bobcats didn't achieve their win-loss goal, they did better last year's record.
"We improved throughout the year," Lehman said. "We were 11-27 last year and 14-21 this year. Last year, in the conference we were 3-17 and this year we were 10-12 against some very tough conference teams. We had three teams make the state softball tournament - West Delaware, Mount Vernon and DeWitt.
"We were inconsistent, but we showed that we could play with the better teams," he added.
One key statistic that WD improved from last year was the error category.
"Last year, we committed 108 errors, this year we only had 83. We kept improving all year," Lehman said. "Sometimes you can't see improvement by looking just at wins and losses, but you see in the stats
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Lehman cited the way his team played against the state-qualifying teams to earn WaMaC Conference splits in doubleheader action as the highlights to the Bobcats' season.
"Anytime you can beat West Delaware and Mount Vernon, it's a good season. We were able to take one from them this year and that was nice. Central DeWitt is always a decent team. Beating those three have to be the highlight."
At the end of the season, WD had to say goodbye to four seniors - Cali Botsford, Cathy Theis, Ally Massey and Drees who all made big contributions to the Bobcat program during their time at Western Dubuque.
"Rachel was key for us. We rode her arm to state when she was a sophomore and she was a big part of our team for years," Lehman said.
"Cathy beat West Delaware and Mount Vernon, she won a couple big games for us as a pitcher. She was probably our ace this year.
"Ally has been the most consistent hitter we have had. She made second team all conference and she was always consistent.
"Cali started out slow, but she was the hardest working kid in the weight room," he added.
Another key for Western Dubuque this year was the number of younger players who stepped up to fill key roles.
"It allowed us to put people in the positions where they are comfortable," Lehman said. "We put Lynsey (Reimer) back in center field, where she played when we went to state. We put Katie (Ramler) back in left field, where she felt more comfortable. It allowed the team to play more relaxed."
Eighth-grader Zoey Weber had a big impact for the Bobcats this year. She moved up to the varsity squad and was the starting catcher, and had some key hits for the Bobcats throughout the season.
Despite losing four seniors, the Bobcats have a big nucleus of key players returning to the diamond next year, along with a great group of sophomores who will be moving up.
"Our sophomore team was 31-5, so there should be some kids coming in that can fill some spots," Lehman said. "The young pitchers are going to have to pick up the slack. A couple of them had some varsity experience this year and that should help them in the future."
WD's offensive statistical leaders were: batting average (50 plus at bats) - Theis .326, Massey .314, Drees .310, Ramler .297, Weber .277, Michelle Fagerlind .250 and Reimer .235; hits - Massey and Ramler 33, Theis 31 and Drees 31, Weber and Fagerlind 26 and Reimer 24; doubles - Theis and Massey 12, Ramler eight, Drees and Fagerlind six, Tracy Wulfekuhle five; triples - Massey and Weber one; home runs - Massey and Drees two, Ramler, Weber and Mackenzie Meyer one; stolen bases - Reimer 10 and Marissa Kluesner six.
The Bobcats' pitching leaders were: record - Drees 4-4, Theis 7-8, Jessica Becker 2-7 and Fagerlind 1-2; strikeouts - Drees 33, Theis 28 and Becker 16; ERA - Theis 2.93 and Drees 3.57.