From Freshman Follower to Senior Leader

The biggest difference is leadership. As a freshman, that was the seniors’ job. Now it’s everyone’s job.”

When Meghan Webster looks around the Peninsula High School softball field, she sees that a lot has changed in three years. She is the lone remaining player from the Seahawks’ unforgettable 2023 run — a season that ended with a 29-2 record, conference, district, and state championships, and a group of seniors and leaders who set a standard Webster didn’t fully appreciate at the time.

She was just a freshman then, learning on the fly, surrounded by upperclassmen she admired. At the time, she didn’t know she was being trained to replace them.

Today, Webster starts her final season not just as a returning starting pitcher and infielder, but as the steady presence others now look to — on the field, in the school, and across the broader Peninsula community.

“I don’t think I realized how big that year really was,” Webster said. “I kind of thought playing in the state tournament was just the standard. It wasn’t until later that I understood how special it was.”

That championship season, Peninsula finished a perfect 17-0 in the South Sound Conference and beat Snohomish 4-1 in the state title game. Webster, the sole freshman on the roster, hit .250 with three hits and four RBIs — modest numbers that hinted at potential more than polish at the varsity level.

The years that followed forced growth.

After winning it all, Peninsula dropped to 4-15 overall in 2024 as the roster turned over.

“I kind of expected that dip,” Webster said. “We lost so much senior talent. I knew it was going to be a rebuilding year.”

Last spring, the Seahawks rebounded to an 18-11 record (7-3 in the Puget Sound League) and a return trip to the 3A state tournament, signaling a program on the rise again. Webster was at the center of that turnaround.

As a junior, she hit .341 with 30 hits, 24 RBIs, and three home runs, while also earning seven wins and striking out 51 batters — filling multiple roles for a team still rebuilding its identity.

Now, with another young roster stepping in, Webster embraces the responsibility she once watched from a distance.

“The biggest difference is leadership,” said Webster, who also played volleyball for the Seahawks. “As a freshman, that was the seniors’ job. Now it’s everyone’s job. We have sophomores and juniors stepping up, too.”

That leadership extends well beyond the diamond. 

Webster is Peninsula’s student body president, deeply involved in leadership programs and an active participant in Unified Sports, a program that joins people with and without intellectual disabilities to play together as equals on the same co-ed team.

Her commitment was part of the work that helped Peninsula earn the Special Olympics Unified Champion Schools National Banner Award in December. Being a Unified player has shaped her perspective on how she leads younger teammates on the softball field who are still finding their place.

“Once you join Unified, you’re kind of changed forever,” Webster said. “It helps you learn about people who are different from you, and it helps you grow into a much kinder person.”

Balancing it all takes intention. Webster says school comes first — a nonnegotiable — followed by sports and activities. Being busy, she admits, is part of who she is.

“I need to be doing this constantly,” Webster said. “COVID was so hard when I didn’t have anything going on. When we got back, I was like, ‘I need my schedule filled with everything I want to do.’ ”

That drive has also turned creativity into entrepreneurship.

What started as helping make posters and signs for school events has evolved into a small banner-making business. Through her Instagram account @custombannersbymeg, Webster designs and hand-paints custom banners for graduations, birthdays, and celebrations.

“I kind of realized the popularity of banners,” she said. “I made one for a friend, and I was like, ‘Oh, this is kind of fun.’ It’s a creative outlet for me.”

Each banner starts as a digital design, projected onto the wall of her garage, then she paints them — often over several days, squeezed in between homework, practices, and meetings.

“It’s definitely just something I can relax and do,” Webster said. “I can turn on a TV show and sit in my garage and paint for a little bit.”

As graduation approaches, Webster is still weighing her next steps. She hasn’t decided whether she’ll play softball in college, but she has a clear vision academically. She plans to study criminology and fire science, intending to become a firefighter, a path inspired by her uncle, a retired New York City firefighter.

“I like working with teams and helping people,” she said about her desired career path. “It’s very physically challenging, and I want to challenge myself.”

As softball practice starts in February, her focus remains on one final spring in a Seahawks uniform — a bittersweet reality she’s trying not to rush.

Peninsula opens the 2026 season with three straight road games, starting April 1 at River Ridge High School in Lacey, before returning home April 15 to face Silas.

Once a freshman quietly learning from championship seniors, Webster now carries those lessons as a senior leader, setting the standard she once followed, for a program still writing its next chapter.

“I’m excited, but it’s hard,” she said. “Once the season starts, you know it has to end.”