In sports, team chemistry is important.
In girls high school softball, chemistry can be the single factor that separates a championship team from one that didn’t live up to its potential.
Through a tragic loss last season, the softball team at Durant High School came together in a way many teams never experience, and the result was a historic state championship run, the first in program history.
“The camaraderie is there. It’s hard to get 18 to 20 girls to get along, especially when half of them are going to be starters and half won’t,” says head coach Matt Carter. “I think they all truly get along. It’s a team and takes a team effort and that’s what you have to focus on and we’ve been doing a good job of that so far.”
The Lady Cougars lost four seniors and return four this season, including three — third baseman Kennedy Dean, catcher Alyssa Colding and pitcher Paige Davis — that were starters on last year’s title team.
They also return juniors right fielder Brooke Freeman, center fielder Shannon Bell, first baseman Kelli Tidwell and second baseman Payton Lewis.
“We’re just looking forward to coming back this year and being competitive with a good group of girls,” says Colding, who hit .325 with 11 RBIs last season. “We’re getting along really well and are practicing hard to just win as many games as we can.”
Carter will look to Davis, who was the ace for the Lady Cougars pitching staff last season, to fill that role again as a senior. Davis pitched 181 of the 193 innings last season and finished with a 2.44 ERA and a 22-4 record.
“I wasn’t surprised by our success, but I was a little shocked at the way we kept coming back,” Davis says of her team’s late-inning heroics.
Those come-from-behind wins propelled Durant through the postseason, beginning in the 8A District 7 tournament championship against Alonso, in which the Lady Cougars battled back from an 11-0 deficit to win 15-14. Durant went on to come back in the region quarters and semis against East Lake and Palm Harbor University before shutting out Timber Creek 2-0 in the region finals and beating Mandarin 7-2 in the Final Four.
In the state championship, Durant fell behind 2-0 in the first inning before going on to an 8-2 win.
According to many of the Durant players, that inspiration to push through came from above. On May 4, just a week before the Lady Cougars began the state playoffs, Antoinette Cuellar, “Momma C,” lost her battle with breast cancer. Cuellar’s daughter, Olivia, was a senior shortstop for Durant.
“She was our guardian angel and we played every game for her,” Davis says.
When it comes to defending their title, the current Durant seniors say they don’t feel any added pressure.
“We just love to play the game, so we just take it when it comes and take one game at a time,” says Dean, who led the team with three home runs last season, along with Tidwell.
After losing three starters, Carter says there will be some position changes, but says that there is plenty of offensive talent, so a defensive spot may be made to add more offensive firepower.
“You’ve got to have hits,” he says. “You can’t put the best defense out there, but, if you don’t score runs, you’re not going to win. There’s some changes out there, but everybody is adjusting really well.”
Durant’s title defense began Tuesday, with a season opening (win/loss) at East Bay.
OTHER AREA TEAMSPlant City Coach: Amanda Sawyer
2012 record: 17-6
Postseason: Runner-up in 7A District 8; lost to Bartow in regional quarterfinals
Top players returning: SS Kristen Wyckoff (Sr.), LF Nan Lawson (Sr.), 2B Kacie Booth (Jr.)
Outlook: First-year head coach Amanda Sawyer inherits a young, but talented, team that made a regionals appearance last year.
The Lady Raiders are heavy on both sides of youth and experience with seven freshmen and five seniors on the 17-player squad. Plant City will be young in the pitching department with sophomore Noelle Dietrich and freshman Alexis Williams. Wyckoff returns for her senior season and will certainly be an essential part of the offense. The South Florida commit had a .592 batting average and stole 42 bases last season, which was fourth in the state.
Lawson and Booth will both be other keys to success, according to Sawyer.
“We have good talent with the seniors and a lot of potential with the freshmen, so although we will be young, we should be competitive in the district,” Sawyer says.
Strawberry Crest
Coach: Mindy Miltner
2012 record: 18-6
Postseason: Lost in district semifinals
Top players returning: C Mia Fung (Jr.), SS Megan Reed (Jr.), 1B Savannah Bradley (Sr.), CF Cacey Simmons (Jr.), P Sammy Tyler (Jr.), P/OF Jordan Bowers (Jr.), 3B Trystan Reibsome (Jr.)
Outlook: A program on the rise since its first season in 2010, Strawberry Crest went 18-6 overall and 9-1 in 6A District 11 last year, before being upset in the district tournament semifinals by Leto.
Every player from that team returns this season, as the Lady Chargers go for a deep postseason run.
“We have to take one game at a time and perform to our best ability as well as have strong communication and work as a unit,” says Miltner, who enters her fourth year with SCHS.
The Lady Chargers hit .443, as a team, in 2012, being led by Reibsome (.537), Reed (. 493), Bowers (.492) and Bradley (.483). On the mound, they were led by Bowers (9-2, 0.84 ERA), Bradley (1.83 ERA) and Brianna Alonso (4-1, 2.23 ERA).