ROCK ISLAND, Ill. — Just four years ago, the COVID-19 pandemic put a halt to all sports, leaving high school seniors without a chance to experience all the excitement that goes with their senior year.
Fast forward to 2024, and those same student-athletes are finally getting that senior opportunity, and they're trying to make the most of it.
Jennica Soliz was a senior on Moline's softball team, and she still remembers having her final season shut down.
"I remember my last day of school and going home and receiving a text message that we won't have practice and going on to spring break, and we just never returned," Soliz said.
It was a tough pill for Soliz to swallow when she realized she'd played her last game in a Maroons uniform.
"Our team that year was supposed to be pretty good, and I think we would have made it really far," Soliz said.
Another thing that was taken away from Soliz—was her senior day.
"I also feel bad for all of the other athletes and student-athletes that weren't able to have a senior day and their parents, their parents watched them grow up playing the sport and didn't have that experience as well," she said.
Back in 2020, her future college coach John Nelson was coaching Rockridge High School.
"We were mid-practice and got shut down," Nelson said. "It was really sad to see those seniors who were ready to win a state title have to kind of give up their senior season."
Now, Nelson and Soliz are together on the Augustana softball team.
"Having coached on here now is pretty awesome, and I'm kind of sad that I don't get any more years," Soliz said.
"I'm saying 'soak it all in man, you get a senior season.' Soak it all in, and take the time to look around, see what you got here and just be happy about it," Nelson said.
Soliz has made the most of that opportunity.
"I get to fill that kind of void. I'm having the senior year and along with my parents, my parents get to kind of send me off in a way after spending several years of watching me play softball," she said.
And after all those years on the diamond, Soliz said she's grown from the game and the lessons she's learned along the way.
"Playing softball over the last couple of years, it's taught me discipline, it's kept my grades up, it pushes me to be a better student, a better person, and all the expectations of an athlete, I think I have gained from softball," she said.