As with the Prowlers, this entire softball team made up a travel ball squad. As the FCA Fire, manager Keith Brewer’s girls went from having little, if any, experience to competing in Lake Placid for a shot at states.
“Their fielding skills really came along,” Brewer said. “Their batting was an issue when we first started — it was pretty bad — but, I guess you could say all the aspects of their fundamentals are really, really good.”
Because of lower participation numbers, this squad was one of two softball teams that had to jump to the Dixie Youth league for this postseason. The girls have played under the “Belles” moniker, but would have been the juniors softball team in PCLL play.
Brewer says the thing that sets this team apart from others is its leadership. factor,which the coaches made sure to weave into the fabric of the squad through two captains.
“Maddie (Westmoreland) and Olivia (Whitman) are kind of our mentors,” Brewer said. “We made it where they had to make hard decisions, and that helped to really jell the team … That’s what we pushed for, was leadership, for them to make those hard decisions and make the girls accept that, within your peers, this is what’s being seen.”
Not pictured: Natalie Demos – OF
