Starting Friday, Propst Park will as much resemble the host of an outdoor music festival as a youth baseball and softball tournament.
The cheers, loud and proud, will derive from dozens of girls, perhaps hundreds, from throughout the state, ranging in age from tiny tots to teenage veterans of Amateur Softball Association of America competition.
Unlike baseball — make that just about any other American sport — an unofficial prerequisite of playing softball is cheering.
Seriously.
You cheer in the dugout while a teammate is at the plate.
Ball one, ball two, ball three, ball four. Come on pitcher, throw some more!
You yell when she hits a shot to the outfield, or after teammates collect an out in the field.
Ball five, ball six, ball seven, ball eight, come on pitcher, pitcher ”em straight!
You warm up your body before games by cheering some more, maybe even adding a giggle to your lyrics to get rid of pre-game jitters.
That”s the way, uh huh uh huh, we like it!
To see for yourself, go to the park this weekend off Highway 182. Stroll through the fields hosting softball games and listen for chants, some as old as the coaches. K.C. and the Sunshine Band would be proud.
It”s all a part of staying into the game. Call it Girl Power.
“It makes me feel good that my teammates have my back, and I have their back,” said Melonie Weeks, who is in her second season with the Caledonia 12-and-under team called the Lady Raiders.
“It just makes me excited to be up there to bat when they”re cheering for me.”
It”s a part of the game for softball players from here to high school competition, to the Women”s College World Series, and all the way to the U.S. Olympic team and professional softball leagues.
In baseball, players get a little noisy during rallies, but that”s about it. They may turn their hats backwards too. Football players are too busy meeting on the sideline or looking at themselves on the Jumbo Tron.
Golf? Shhhhh!
The Lady Raiders of Caledonia likely will be one of the most vocal teams this weekend, utilizing their cheers as part motivation, part (play) war chant.
These girls can compete on the diamond, and they aren”t afraid to let anybody know.
Tick tock, Raiders rock. You can”t stand us, we”re so hot… When we play your jaws drop, Say ooo wo oh oh!
“Our girls never stop cheering,” joked their coach, Ray Livingston, who is in his fifth decade of playing or coaching baseball and softball.
“They don”t shut up during the whole game. And it does keep them motivated and keeps them on top of the game, and keeps everybody in an upbeat mode.
They don”t stop winning either, having placing first, second and third this summer in fast-pitch and slow-pitch tournaments.
Livingston”s granddaughter, Taylor Brock, said she found softball cheers on the Internet. They created others, such as one which follows every out the Lady Raiders record: Two down, one to go (they pop their gloves and hit their cleats)… Go Raiders go!
“It helps our attitude,” Anna Kate McDaniel said. “Helps us play better.”
Cheering, though, does have one setback. Said Brock: “My throat just gets a little dry.”
Team members are: Taylor Brock, Hope Harbin, Brittni Beard, Makayla Taylor, Melonie Weeks, Landri Brown, Brooklyn Waldrep, Keeli Bobbitt, Ainsley Cullum, Stephanie Wilkes, Caitlyn Sheppeard, and Anna Kate McDaniel.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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