Although the Oak Harbor High School softball team is young, it still has a handful of veteran players.

Eight letter winners are back, and none are seniors.

Leading the way are four two-year letter winners: juniors Alexa Findley (catcher/shortstop), Kelly Findley (second base/outfield), Tricia Sarns (pitcher/third base) and Kat Martinez (pitcher/infield).

Also back are juniors Laura Anderson (outfield) and Taylor Heidt (outfield/first base) and sophomores Shea Davis (outfield/first base) and Sydney White (catcher/shortstop).

Alexa Findley and Sarns earned second-team, all-league honors and won the team’s Most Valuable Player awards in 2014. Martinez, Kelly Findley, Anderson and White were all-league honorable mention.

Coach Todd Showalter isn’t sure which newcomers will fill out the lineup, but he is pleased with the growth of last season’s junior varsity players. Many, like most of the returnees, played on club teams during the summer.

“A couple have come a long ways,” he said. “Some played year-round.”

He is also impressed with the five freshmen on the team.

“All the freshmen that turned out made the team,” he said. “They are strong enough that they would have made it any year.”

The Wildcats won only two games last year, but with the experienced team returning, Showalter “expects to be in the playoff hunt.”

“Everyone else in the league graduated more than we did, and some have to rebuild,” he said. “We have more experience.”

Oak Harbor will play in a jamboree at Marysville-Pilchuck High School at 10 a.m. Saturday, March 14.

The first game is 4 p.m. Tuesday, March 17, when Mount Vernon comes to Whidbey Island.