The Midland Trail softball team gave head coach Candace Young an early birthday present Wednesday night by winning the Class A Region 3 Section 2 championship.
Now the Patriots look to give their coach another present – a regional championship title.
Midland Trail will battle Section 1 champion James Monroe in a best-of-3 series starting Monday in Hico at 5:30 p.m.
“Every year we come in with that mindset that we are going to make it. But, it feels like this year we had a lot to prove where we didn’t get to play last year,” Young said. “I thought we would be in the exact same position last year. It is what it is, no one could stop the pandemic. I think we came in thinking we were good last year, so let’s show what we can do again this year.”
While the expectations were high, the season did not get off to a smooth start and was more like a ball of confusion for Young and her team.
“We got to practice, but we had the restrictions from the pandemic. Throw in the fact that we didn’t have our basketball girls because they were still playing and it was a rough start,” Young said about the erratic start to the season. “Then we got the shutdown that was only Midland Trail High School. I am watching Facebook and the news and all these teams are playing while we are spinning our wheels. It did make it difficult. We talked everyday on Zoom calls and we tried to stay in touch to maintain that mindset, but it was different for sure.”
Over the first seven games of the season, the Patriots struggled to a 3-4 start.
“I have five seniors and there is experience with them, but I see them as juniors. They all lost out on a year of experience,” Young said. “We have some experienced players, but at the same time, we felt like there was more that we could have done during the shutdown that we are playing catch-up on.”
However, as the calendar approached May, Midland Trail hit its stride. Beginning with a doubleheader sweep of Great Beckley Christian on April 29, Midland Trail ran off 12 straight wins to end the season. Three straight wins in the sectional tournament brought the streak to 15 games as they head into regional play.
“It is kinda like a no-hitter, I don’t try to talk about it, but the girls have this “want to” about them,” Young said. “They do a lot of the little things right and that has been a big part of us being able to string these wins together.”
The streak for the Patriots has been no accident. Two quality pitchers, Emmie Lopetrone and Meghan Gill, solid defense and some electric bats have helped Trail outscore opponents by an average of eight runs per game over the win streak.
“We have used the same mantra all year. Limit our strikeouts, limit our errors and play with intensity,” Young said. “Of course our pitching with Emmie and Gill has kept us in ballgames. They throw strikeouts, but at the same time, they don’t give up a lot of big hits. On defense, we talk a lot and that keeps them on their toes. Some days we come up with some great hits.”
Offensively Trail has been a nightmare for opposing pitchers with hitters and speed all through the line-up.
During the postseason alone, Madison Campbell blasted a two-run home run against Greenbrier West, her fifth of the season, and hit for the cycle against Webster County. Gill and Faith Bailes have both had four-RBI games, while Layla Tompkins hit her first career long ball in the sectional championship win.
“I guess I don’t have a traditional lineup. Some (coaches) put their table setters at the top, then the heavy hitters in the middle and maybe the weaker hitters at the bottom,” Young said. “That is not our lineup. (Meghan) Campbell will go yard, but she is batting in the six or seven slot. Chezney Skaggs comes up from the bottom and can make things happen. You are not going to know who will hurt you. I think that is an advantage for us.”
Although it was a struggle early in the season not having some of the basketball players, that could ultimately be a positive for Trail. Especially considering the girls basketball team battled through the regional grind to earn a trip to the state tournament.
“I think they have the mindset to know what it takes and they know what it tastes like,” Young said. “They want to be back there. It is something special to say we made it in softball and basketball and we made some noise while we were there. It is good to have that leadership.”
One of the star hoopsters was 1,000-point scorer and WVU Tech signee Emily Dickerson who hits at the top of the Trail batting order.
“It gives us a lot of confidence knowing that we have been to states already once this year,” Dickerson said. “It will be really exciting to do it again with another group that hasn’t had that experience.”
Young doesn’t know a lot about their regional opponent having only played them once this season, back on April 24.
“We only got to see them one time. They are a good ball club and they are well coached,” Young said. “We had a great day at the plate down there and hit three home runs. That may or may not happen, but we have to be smart. They aren’t going to serve it up and our defense has to be tight. They have some girls that can hit the ball.”
Emilee Canterbury, Shannon Phipps, Haley Hunicutt and Karissa Hunicutt are all hitting over .400 for the Mavericks. Haley Hunnicut leads the team with 30 RBI, while Canterbury has driven in 28 runs and Phipps 25.
“It will come down to the little things,” Dickerson said. “They are going to want it just as bad as we do. We have to hit the ball and play some really good defense.”
