WIN. What’s Important Now? That’s the motto for the Fort Worth Country Day Softball team this season. It is printed on the back of their shirts and imprinted in their minds.
At the beginning of the season, the team chose three words to represent them: grit, family, and 110%. These words, along with the theme WIN guided the season.
The girls were feeling pretty good after coming off last season as the 3A Softball Champions, which was their second consecutive year claiming the title. Except for one thing: almost their entire varsity lineup was graduating the next month, and they were going from eight seniors to zero.
“[The] group of seniors made my final year as a Falcon nothing short of amazing… I knew it was going to be hard this year for the team to fill all of the gaps we left, but I am so proud of how far they have come and their success,” said Reagan Hall ’24, who now pitches for the Stephen F. Austin Ladyjacks.
“It was hard… they just had a lot of experience. They knew how things ran. And I feel like it’s kind of like rebuilding the everyday routine and the confidence and …blind trust we had in them, because they were just built-in leaders for the team. When they left, there had to be some people to step up. And yes, the captains stepped up, but I think that a bunch of the other upper and underclassmen have too,” Ryleigh Hall ’27, one of this year’s team captains, said.
But the team has persevered. Although there are no seniors on the roster this year, there is no lack of leadership. Sophomores Hall and Taylor Higgins ’27, along with junior Kerri Tsai ’26, were elected as captains by their teammates.
These girls, along with some of their teammates, talked during a home game against Lake Country Christian about what the team, WIN, and leadership meant to them.
First off, leadership. The team has been focusing on redefining what leadership looks like for them while still trying to appreciate what past leaders of the team have believed important.
“Leadership to me means to be positive and be strong for your team…and just be there for them no matter what the circumstance. On the field, off the field, no matter what,” Alexis Barriger ’28, a freshman who is enjoying her first season on the team, said.
“To me, leadership is the people who are good role models and they’re always encouraging…they’re the people that anyone on the team can look to, whether that’s in softball or just in life,” Martha Linker ’27 said.
The volume of the audio in the dugout makes it hard to hear specific words at times because of all the cheering going on during at-bats and stressful moments in the field, which is a testament to the quality of the team and the competitive nature of each of the players. The cheers lay the foundation of sisterhood and laughter for many softball teams.
“One of the ball ones where we’re like ‘Ball Party of 4’ when Maddie [Richey ’27] does it,” Higgins said when asked what her favorite cheer is.
“Sometimes I say something and they’ll think it’s like the start of a cheer, but they’ll have no idea, so they’ll just repeat it,” Hall said.
More evidence of this camaraderie is how comfortable everyone on the team is with each other. Between morning weights, practices, and games, the team is together at the very least for 12 hours every week.
“Our community and how close we are because we’re all really close on the field and off the field, and we know how to talk to each other and just connect on the field and you can see that in our playing,” Barriger, when asked about her favorite part of the team, said.
So, What is Important Now? For this team, it seems that what’s important now is having fun, encouraging each other, supporting each other, growing individually and together, and giving it their all out on the field.
“The number one thing is just focusing on what is happening on the field at the moment,” Tsai said.
“For me, it’s really like being present in the moment…Softball is definitely a mental game… [It’s] not dwelling on the mistakes that you made or any errors, or any or even that the team’s made. It’s just really focusing on one specific thing you need to do. If the team wins, you win… Just keep competing,” Hall said.
And “just keep competing” is what they intend to do.
During SPC in Houston, the circumstances were different than usual. Softball had a combined tournament with all the 3A and 4A teams.
The Falcons were the #2 seed, and won their first game against John Cooper on Friday May 2. They played the semifinal game that night, and after playing an inning, there was an hour-long rain delay. The game was postponed until the next day.
The girls played again Saturday morning, losing in extra innings to St. Johns. They ended up taking home fourth place in a 10-team bracket.
But, as Coach DeAnn Hall said, they’ll be back next year.
