Washington’s softball team has been developing impressive chemistry throughout the season. Coach Doug Whitehead knew coming into the season that he had plenty of players capable of playing in multiple positions. He’s spent the season thus far finding out who works best where.

Even with all the changes made, defensive chemistry has never been better. The Lady Pack has shutout its last two opponents — both 2-A Eastern Plains Conference foes. The girls have surrendered an average of just three runs a game through 13 games.

The pieces have mostly fallen in place for Washington, which has a tough three-game stretch coming up. Whitehead said about seven or eight of the nine positions are set in stone. He’s using the competition as a means of motivation to help push the defense to the next level.

“We’re still trying to find someone who wants to takeover and hit and win a position,” he said. “The thing is we’ve got many capable girls to do it, so I’m very comfortable with where we are.”

The chemistry coupled with what the Lady Pack has seen in terms of elite competition should be advantageous as conference play ramps up.

“We’ve faced some great competition,” Whitehead said, reflecting on Easter tournament encounters with East Carteret and Grassfield, which is the No. 1 team in Virginia. “It’s certainly going to help us out. … We’ve seen some of the best. Most of the teams we’ve lost to only have like one loss. We’ve seen some good teams and hopefully that pays off for us.”

Tuesday marks the beginning of one of the tougher stretches of the season. Washington hosts Beddingfield with a top spot in the league on the line. The girls also play host to a top team in North Johnston on Friday, with a trip to South Central in the middle.

Things are much more settled on the offensive end of the game. The batting order has remained relatively consistent, and for good reason. The girls have had five innings in which they’ve scored at least three runs in their past two games. Thus far in the season, they’ve managed to push across an astounding 90 runs in just 13 games.

“I think we’re in good shape in the batting order. I like what we’re doing,” Whitehead said. “We’re strong at the top and bottom and it’s worked out. I think we’re pretty satisfied.”

Washington appears to be in good shape moving forward. That kind of scoring pace is hard to maintain. Defensively, the girls have seen plenty of tough competition. They are well positioned to win games on with defense should their bats cool off.