Spring has finally sprung.

Unfortunately for opponents of the Seneca Valley softball and girls lacrosse teams, the Raiders seemed to be in midseason form right from the start of the season.

Both squads begin the month of May undefeated, with softball at 13-0 and the girls lacrosse team at 12-0.

After losing stars like Julie Marlowe (Allegheny College), Tina Mangola (Ohio Northern) and Aly Intihar (Cornell) to graduation, softball coach George Trew admits he's a bit surprised at his team's record, but he also knew there would be no shortage of talent on this season's squad.

"I knew it was going to be tough to replace the players we lost to graduation," he said. "But I thought we would be a competitive team."

"I was a little skeptical before the season," said SV center fielder Liz Dorogy, a co-captain of the team along with third baseman Nicole Lollo. "There were big shoes to fill on this team, but some underclassmen have stepped it up."

"We're 13-0 overall and 10-0 in the section," Trew added. "We have to be happy about that, but no team in this section would think they'd still be undefeated this late in the season."

But the Raiders are. They can clinch their first section title since 1999 with a win at Shaler today.

SV's success starts with pitching.

Three-year starter Lauren Pennell has a 10-0 record with a 1.03 earned-run-average.

"She's not striking out 10 or 12 batters a game," Trew said. "But she moves the ball around and keeps hitters off-balance."

Other pitchers with wins for the Raiders are Courtney Grootegoed (2-0) and Ashley Kuhn (1-0).

Not to be outdone, the team's offense is feasting on opposing pitching.

Second baseman Jackie Mangola leads the team in hits (19), runs batted in (20) and on-base percentage (.609).

"Jackie's had a lot of critical hits for us," said Trew. "But all the players have had big moments. And when somebody does something well, it picks everybody else up."

Other offensive leaders include Lollo's .462 batting average and Dana Hughes' 15 runs scored.

With all of the talent on last year's team, the 2006 Raiders went just 6-4 in section play and lost to Hempfield in the first round of the WPIAL playoffs.

"I felt a lot more pressure playing on last year's team," said Lollo, a four-year starter. "On this year's team, if you make a mistake, the other players come to pick you up. We didn't always have that."

Like the softball team, the SV girls lacrosse team entered this season with a few question marks.

The Raiders had only one senior — defender Carly Conrad — returning from last year's section championship team to join 14 freshmen.

But youth has served the team well.

"I really didn't think we'd have this type of season," said junior offensive star Melissa Ball. "But sometimes predictions are wrong."

And underclassmen like sophomore goalkeeper Katie Sterling are turning some heads.

"We had Brittany Fusco in net at the beginning of the season, but she had to leave the team," said SV coach Karyn Brooks. "So, we're scrounging, going through the school trying to find somebody who could play in goal for us.

"A few of the players came up to me one day and said they had found someone, and it was Katie. She's done a fantastic job and was an amazing find."

Ball, Lindsay Flavion, Adrienne Steele and Shannon Quail lead the Raiders' offensive attack in most games, while Meredith Vicente, Ashley Argyros and Conrad shore up the defense.

Playing with an undefeated record could prove to be an extra burden on some players, but junior wing Berta Miller said she believes the team stays focused.

"If we're not playing a game as well as we can, that's when we might say to ourselves in a huddle, 'Hey, we're undefeated. Let's keep that going.'

"But we really don't think about our record while we're on the field playing," Miller added. "All the girls are on the same page and everybody's doing their part.