JACKSON — Families can come together to do anything.
At times, the New Hope High School slow-pitch softball team seemed to be as dysfunctional a family you would see on any soap opera.
Sure, the Lady Trojans were winning games early in the season, but the hiccups the team experienced led some to wonder if it could get the chemistry lesson right in time to make a run at a fourth title in a row, and 13th overall.
“We do have our arguments, but we pull together and are considered the comeback team,” senior pitcher Brandi Brantley said. “We come together as a family to win games, just like we did this game.”
Brantley gave the assessment of the New Hope High slow-pitch softball team”s family dynamic Saturday after it swept Picayune 6-4 and 6-5 to capture the Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 5A state title.
There was drama — as is the case in many family functions — but New Hope (26-4) responded with championship flair, scoring four runs in the bottom of the seventh inning in game two to avoid being pushed to a third game.
The rally helped the Lady Trojans overcome a sluggish effort at the plate in which they popped too many balls up and failed to adjust to a pitch that was being allowed to go deep in the strike zone.
In the end, though, New Hope coach Tabitha Beard said the championship feeling never gets old, even after an afternoon that turned out to be more frustrating than she imagined, because she was with her family and she knew things would turn out the right way.
“I consider these girls family, and I think they would say the same thing about each other,” said Beard, who was doused with a cooler filled with ice as the team posed for pictures after game two. “When I think back to my days with this program and what it meant to me and what coach (Cary) Shepherd did with us and the bond we made, these girls are together all of the time. They are truly friends, and we do a lot, and my husband and my kids are so involved in this program and they have involved them. That has been really special for me that my family is so involved. My mother is in charge of the concession stand. We”re all one big family and we work together. Their parents are just the same way.”
Beard said seniors Haley Tutor, Anna Holley, Brandi and Brittney Brantley, and Jessica Moore set the tone for a team that had just as many “babies,” or underclassmen, make key contributions. Players like Lauren Holifield, Kasey Stanfield, D.J. Sanders, and Kaitlin Bradley matured throughout the season and grew to understand what it means to be a part of the New Hope High softball tradition. Many of them are cut from a different cloth in the sense they have been raised in a fast-pitch environment, while the seniors first knew the slow-pitch game and came to its faster sister as a secondary pursuit.
The blending of the old and the new only served to make the latest title even more special. The ups and downs the family overcame added to the enjoyment of title No. 13.
“We”re just like sisters,” Brandi Brantley said. “We fight, we argue, like any other family. We have our times when we just want to hit somebody in the face, but we can”t do that. We love each other. It is a love-hate relationship, mostly love. I don”t know what I would do without the half of these girls on this team or the coaches. I love them. They are just like family.”
Beard called the five seniors “a blessing” to her because they helped teach her so much about the game and about how to be a coach. She chided, tested, encouraged, and challenged all her players to be champions, and after days of inconsistent pitching, temper tantrums at practice, and uncharacteristic hitting, Beard was left to cherish another championship moment with all of her girls.
“It is more than a softball team, and it always has been even as far back as I can remember,” Beard said. “I guess that is one thing coach Shepherd always said she wanted somebody who played for her to replace because of that. I understand what this program meant to me. I had some rough times in my life during high school and this is all I can remember having. There are times I remember getting phone calls at 3 a.m. and (the person on the other end of the line is like, ”Coach, …). When these kids are hurting I hurt with them, and they hurt for each other. They go through it all together.
“I don”t think there is a single girl on this team who doesn”t know I would be there if they called my house at 2 a.m. I would be there, and if they needed something I would be there for them. I think of them as my kids. I think their parents know that. It is a amazing thing.”
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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