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Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Great in ‘08
Fort Worth, TX
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By: Rick Mauch
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Photo(s) By: Shawn Smajstrla
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North Texas is a hotbed for softball talent, and that was proven again on the diamond this season. The Fort Worth area produced a state and national champion, as well as several teams that pushed far into the playoffs.
Only one game into the 2008 softball season, the Aledo Ladycats found themselves at a crossroads.
They had just lost 13-3 to Belton.
What they did after that loss made them one of the best teams the North Texas area has ever produced.
The Ladycats capped a 39-game unbeaten streak when they outlasted Nederland 4-0 in 15 innings to win the 4A state championship on May 31 in Austin.
It was one of the greatest games ever played in the state tournament and finished off one of the best seasons ever for a Metroplex team.
The Ladycats (38-1-1) captured not only the state championship, but the National Fastpitch Coaches Association/USA Today national title as well. Not a bad season for the team that brought Aledo its first state crown in a girls sport.
“It was an awesome way to finish the seaosn,” said Aledo coach Kevin Cook. “This title is ours forever and ever. Next year's team will go for another, but this one is ours to keep for the rest of our lives.
“This group of girls will never lose another game together.”
Aledo's win was the climactic moment in a year in which North Texas softball excelled. Twenty-two Fort Worth area teams advanced to at least the second round, including a couple of regional finalists, five semifinalists and four quarterfinalists.
The Ladycats lose seven seniors, including senior pitcher Whitney Canion (31-0-1). She pitched all 15 innings of the title game, striking out a record 22 batters.
“We had a team meeting and discussed our team's capabilities and the seriousness of the season,” said senior infielder Lyndi Samuelson of the opening loss. “Losing that first game was more of a motivation than anything.”
Granted, the Ladycats were without some key players against Belton, including Canion, but Cook felt they were better than they showed. And he let his varsity players know this.
“I told them after that first game, `If this is the best you can do, I'll go get the JV team,'” said Cook.
Of course, the Aledo junior varsity would probably have done very well at the varsity level had Cook made the switch. The JV Ladycats were 27-0, and many of those players will be on the varsity next season as they try to defend the title.
The Ladycats began the season with a goal to get to Austin. They had come so close the two previous seasons, losing in the regional final to Denton Ryan last season and to district rival Cleburne in 2006. They also lost to Cleburne in the 2005 regional semifinals.
So, they adopted a philosophy, “You will have to be more than your skill.”
In other words, win mentally before you win physically.
“Ben Hogan said championship golf is played six inches between the ears,” said Cook. “Those girls just kept working. They just did not want to lose.”
The Ladycats also realized that while they had the pitcher and defense to win a lot of 1-0 games, why settle for a single run?
Aledo outscored its opponents 274-30. They surrendered only 17 runs in their final 39 games after the thumping they took against Belton.
In their seven playoff wins, the Ladycats outscored their opponents 39-1. When Sherman fell 2-1 in the second game of a best-of-three bidistrict series, it ended a streak of 16 straight shutouts.
“Instead of depending on one or two hitters and a pitcher, we've got several who can hit,” said Cook. “Why score one run when you can score six?”
With that philosophy in mind, the Ladycats had a couple of games to provide a fitting end to their season. They scored all six runs in the fourth inning of a 6-0 win over Waco Midway to reach the title game, and obviously they scored all four runs in the 15th to down Nederland.
Of course, they also got some fantastic defense along the way. Senior second baseman K.K. Pittman had a diving catch in the top of the fourth to prevent a run from scoring against Midway and senior outfielder Jennifer Swinney threw out the potential Nederland winning run to sophomore catcher Easton Cook to keep the title contest going.
Both Swinney and Pittman made the All-State Tournament Team, along with Canion, Samuelson, Cook, senior infielder/outfielder Haylee Bell and junior infielder/outfielder Andi Shahan.
“We have the defense to win games. And we know Whitney is going to keep the other team down to one or two runs at most, so if we score three or four we're pretty much guaranteed to win the game,” said Cook.
One or two runs. Besides Belton, only three teams scored more than a single run against the Ladycats: 3A area competitor Giddings (a 7-2 Aledo win), 4A regional quarterfinalist Mesquite Poteet (5-4), and TAPPS 5A champion Midland Christian (8-2).
While the Ladycats outscored their District 8-4A opponents 153-1, there were a couple of formidable foes in the league. Crowley advanced to the area round and Joshua fell 1-0 to Aledo in the regional final, a game in which the Lady Owls outhit Aledo 4-2.
“We say that was the state championship game,” said Joshua coach Traci Brooks of the regional final.
It was the second time in three seasons that two teams from District 8-4A had met in the regional final. It was the fourth time this season the Ladycats defeated the Lady Owls (31-8), outscoring them 8-1.
Among the Ladycats' other victims this season were 5A regional finalist Weatherford, 5A regional quarterfinalist Burleson and three wins over Crowley.
“That's probably a reason we'll win the national championship, they (voters) know how good softball is in Texas,” said Cook before the official announcement of his team's crowning. “It's a tribute to the state.”
As great as this season was for Aledo, it seems the foundation has been laid for even more greatness to follow. Samuelson agreed, adding that it makes her proud to have been there at the beginning.
“It's an honor knowing I was a part of a team that [won] state,” Samuelson said. “It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that very few girls get to experience. I believe Aledo softball will continue to accelerate.”
She added that winning a national title is sweet, but not as sweet as winning state. After all, the national title is mythical and voted on, while the state crown was won on the field.
“The national ranking had not even crossed my mind when the season started,” said Samuelson. “All I was focused on was getting to that last tournament in Austin. Being nationally ranked is a blessing.”
The Aledo program has come a long way since it began a dozen years ago with Lonnie Davis as coach. Cook joined the program in 1998 as an assistant and has been the head coach the past seven seasons.
The Ladycats have reached the playoffs 10 times since 1996. The program averages 50 girls joining annuallly, and Cook pushes playing select ball during the summer and offseason to make the players even better.
“I've tried to get the younger ones involved in summer select ball because high school is really an 18-under league,” said Cook. “We play fall leagues to put all the girls together.
“I'm really fortunate to get these quality girls.”
And of course, the community is very much behind the state champions—even before they won the coveted title.
“You don't have a magazine big enough to thank everybody who got behind us and pushed us to this championship,” said Cook.
And yes, there was pressure, but the Ladycats handled the pressure in Austin the same way they did every other game—they relaxed and did what they knew they were capable of.
“We went down there and were ourselves,” said Cook. “That's important in us winning it all.”
And speaking of being themselves, Cook has no big plans to celebrate being the coach of one of the best teams in Texas history.
“I'm not going to Disneyland,” Cook said, laughing. “The biggest thing I've got to do is wait for the weather to cool off so I can mow the lawn.”
Weatherford
The Lady Kangaroos (29-12) used one of the toughest schedules in the state to prepare them for the program's longest through the playoffs since moving to 5A.
Weatherford lost to Odessa in three games in the regional final, wrapping up one of the best defensive seasons a team has put together.
The Lady Kangaroos outscored their 16 District 4-5A opponents 89-5 en route to winning their first title at the 5A level with a 15-1 record.
“Pitching was dominant and we put the ball in play,” said Weatherford coach Phillip Beyer. “All of our juniors and seniors have been all-district, so they know how to win.”
Behind the strong pitching arm of junior Hannah Schnebley, the Lady Kangaroos became one of the state's best teams. They backed down from no one in the process.
Along with the two losses to Odessa in the regional final, the Lady Kangaroos fell 2-0 to Aledo. Other losses were to playoff programs Midlothian (4A regional semifinals), Plano West (5A regional quarterfinals), Pearland (5A regional quarterfinals), Baytown Sterling (5A regional quarterfinals), Houston Cy-Fair (5A regional semifinals), and El Paso Hanks (5A area round).
“We stacked our schedule, realizing we needed to play good teams, and it paid off,” said Beyer.
The Lady Kangaroos should be a force again next season. Only two players graduate from this season's squad.
The Lady Kangaroos were dominant at the 4A level--even winning a state championship in 2000 with a 34-0 record--before moving up. Now it appears they are on the verge of duplicating that success at the state's highest level.
“The girls take a lot of pride in the program,” said Beyer. “They're out to prove they deserve recognition.”
Joshua
While the Aledo Ladycats were the best team in the nation, some folks in Joshua will argue that the Lady Owls are the second-best team in Texas. Ironically, they were also the second-best team in their own district, which was won by Aledo.
Half of the Lady Owls' losses in a 31-8 season came against Aledo. Joshua coach Traci Brooks believes it when she says her team should have won three of those meetings, a 2-0 loss in a tournament, a 1-0 loss in their second district meeting, and a 1-0 loss in the regional final in Aledo.
"We firmly believe there's no team tougher than Aledo, and we played them as tough as they could have been played," said Brooks.
Most notably, Brooks and her team left the regional final thinking they had let one slip away. The Lady Owls outhit the Ladycats 4-2. Aledo scored the winning run after a batter was hit by a pitch and there was an error on the game-winning play.
"It was a tough way to lose, but Aledo took advantage of the situation, and that's what great teams do," said Brooks. "But there's no doubt in our minds that we feel no one else could have stopped us if we had won that game."
The game was one of the most hyped in years and drew one of the largest crowds ever for a Fort Worth-area game, over 1,000 people. It lived up to its billing, and both teams lived up to their reputations.
"I told the girls you will never play another game with this many people at a game, all the TV cameras, newspapers, radio," said Brooks. "It was an incredible experience."
However, Brooks might have been incorrect. Joshua loses only one player from this season's powerhouse, and of course Aledo expects to be very strong again, so the potential exists for additional high-octane showdowns in 2009.
And, just because the season is over doesn't mean people in Joshua are focusing on something other than softball. The team received a proclamation from the city in late June, and talk around town is filled with high expecations for next season.
"There's already pressure on me for next year," said Brooks. "There's some folks talking state (championship). You can't blame them after the year we had.
"The maturity of my girls--the majority will be seniors--and three years of playoff experience makes us very confident."
Here’s a look back at how area teams fared in the playoffs in 2008:
5A
Weatherford – Regional finals
Flower Mound – Regional semifinals
Burleson – Regional quarterfinals
Colleyville Heritage – Regional quarterfinals
Northwest – Regional quarterfinals
Arlington – Area
Trinity – Area
Arlington Bowie – Bidistrict
Arlington Martin – Bidistrict
Granbury – Bidistrict
Keller – Bidistrict
L.D. Bell – Bidistrict
Mansfield – Bidistrict
Marcus – Bidistrict
Richland – Bidistrict
4A
Aledo – State champions
Joshua – Regional finals
Denton Guyer – Regional semifinals
Saginaw – Regional quarterfinals
Azle – Area
Crowley – Area
Denton Ryan – Area
Southwest – Area
Brewer – Bidistrict
South Hills – Bidistrict
Trimble Tech – Bidistrict
3A
Kennedale – Area
Lake Worth – Bidistrict
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