For the first time in Cathedral history, the girl’s softball team won the 2025 Girls 3A Softball Championship at Purdue University’s Bittinger Stadium. Returning to the field following last years’ win, the sophomores through upperclassmen have definitely felt a void after 5 seniors from 2025 departed from the team for college or career aspirations.
As of April 12th, the team has only suffered one single loss from the Harrison Raiders and currently ranks #6. Although, all of the successes that Cathedral has had, specifically with women’s sports, come with challenges.
In February of 1972, Democratic Senator Birch Bayh from Indiana introduced Title IX, which declared that “no person shall on the basis of sex, be excluded from participating in, be denied benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any educational programs or activities receiving federal financial assistance”. Title IX was signed by President Richard Nixon. The legislation did not initially include any athletic protections. Amendments were subsequently introduced by Republican Senator Jacob Javis of New York, agreed to by both the House and the Senate and were subsequently signed by President Gerald Ford.
Without sanction and funding from the IHSAA, it was extremely hard to maintain women’s sports. IHSAA sanctioned women’s sports in 1972 following the passage of Title IX but didn’t sanction any state championships until the 1975-76 season. Championships for softball had only begun in the 1985-86 season while Basketball began in the 1975-76 season. Girl’s Wrestling had only become sanctioned in 2024 and during the 2024-25 season. Girl’s Flag Football and Lacrosse remain as “Emerging Sports”, which by IHSAA standards, means “a formal designation for sports that are growing in popularity but have not yet met the requirements for full sanctioning”. These sports do receive oversight.
Coach Bamrick has served Cathedral since 1987, often recognizing current students’ parents as former students. She said, “(When I began coaching), girls’ sports were relatively new to IHSAA. I was coaching 2 sports at that time. For 11 or 12 years, I coached both varsity softball and varsity basketball. At that time softball did not have a field on campus, so we actually traveled to Gardner Park, which is across the street from ST. Lawrence School. As to girls basketball, I felt like we worked closely together with the Boys Basketball Coach. We sat down and determined scheduling and as to support, we had great support from the administration. As we continued to progress and improve the program, then I feel like the student support, especially during that timeframe, we had tremendous student support.”
Coach Bamrick works in the Physical Education Department as well.
The departure from high school to college or post-secondary careers is rapidly approaching for the class of 2026. Sidney Feckzo is a senior at Cathedral. She is a member of Student Council along with a player for her club team, Fury Platinum National Liter. In the fall, Feckzo will be headed to Dartmouth College, majoring in Biomedical Science on a Pre-Medical track and minoring in Economics. She has also committed to Softball.
Dartmouth is a top Ivy League school and only 1,767 of 28,356 of applications were granted. Therefore, there was a 6.2 acceptance rate, one of the lowest in school history. Feckzo will also join the less than 2% who go on from high school playing Division 1 sports.
Feckzo said, “(Balancing Softball and Academics) has definitely been very difficult, and I’ve had to make sacrifices in different areas of my life. There are long days where it feels like everything overlaps, but at the same time, the lessons I’ve learned from being a student-athlete are something I wouldn’t have experienced otherwise. It taught me discipline, time management, and how to push through challenges and I’m grateful for that.”
Many athletes often undertake two or more sports in order to become more well-rounded and enhance their physicality. Sidney Matthews is no different. She’s a junior at Cathedral High School who plays not only softball, but volleyball as well. Matthews is a Left Fielder on the Softball team along with a Outside Hitter and Defensive Specialist on the Volleyball team.
Matthews has consistently either overperformed, met or has almost reached national averages. In both of her sports, she has continuously improved since freshman year. She said, “Our goal is always State but also just to celebrate the little moments as much as the big ones. And to enjoy every minute because it can be a long and hard season but ultimately we are going to look back and miss living in the moment.”
Girls Softball plans on reaching another state championship through hard work, dedication and grit. Although, the team plans for throughout the remainder of the season, celebrating the little moments just as much as the bigger ones. Fezsco said, “My biggest goal this season is to have fun and really enjoy my last year of high school softball with such an amazing group of girls. In the past, I’ve gotten really caught up in stats like strikeouts and ERA, but I’ve learned that focusing only on numbers takes away from the joy of the game.”
