WOODROW — The Iowa Park High School softball team has punched its ticket to the Region I-3A Division II final with a two-game sweep of Bushland in the regional semifinals.
The Lady Hawks secured a series victory against the Lady Falcons with a 12-2 win on Friday night and a 5-2 victory on Saturday morning. Even though Eric Simmons’ team made it out of the third round unscathed after outscoring their opponent by a total of 13 runs, Iowa Park’s road to the regional finals wasn’t as easy as it may seem.
To start the season, the Lady Hawks hadn’t yet formed the tight bond that most teams grow into as a campaign progresses. Through team bonding activities as well as plenty of effort from Simmons and his team, the group has become much closer off the field.
Now, as Iowa Park prepares for the fourth round of the postseason, the team’s improved relationship has the Lady Hawks playing their best softball at the most important point of the season.
Coming together
Simmons and his players both admitted, they weren’t the closest group to start the year.
The team wasn’t bringing in many new players, but the group didn’t have the same bond that many high school teams share.
“A lot of coming together as a team, the talent was always there,” Simmons said. “But we were kind of at each other a little bit, not supportive of each other enough. But now, we’re a tight-knit group. So I think just kind of coming together, doing some team bonding stuff, growing closer together is what kind of did it for us.”
To help the team grow closer together, Simmons organized multiple team events, including lunches and other ways to get his team to get more time around one another away from the diamond. The Lady Hawks’ head coach went as far as assigning seats on bus rides, forcing players to get out of their comfort zone and talk to other teammates they may not be as familiar with.
Simmons’ method worked, as the Lady Hawks banded together for a 28-3-1 record and a district title before an impressive run through the playoffs that has the team on the doorstep of a state semifinals berth.
Raylee Huse, a senior infielder for Iowa Park, also commented on how the team has improved its relationship throughout the season, adding that the group has seen improvements on the field as a result of their team bonding activities.
“We used to kind of just be like, on the field, we’re good, and then off the field kind of, it’s just like, there’s nothing there,” Huse said. “But now, we finally got to know each other on a different level, other than just on the field. So, it’s been good ever since. We’re better communicating. We’re better at supporting each other. We lift each other up more.”
Overcoming adversity
In Game 2 of a three-game series against Bushland, the Lady Hawks ability to lift one another up showed its value.
After a run-rule victory in Game 1, Iowa Park fell behind 2-0 in the second contest of the series. The Lady Falcons elected to start the game with Charlie Willis, a sophomore who had never made an appearance in a varsity game until Saturday, in the circle.
Without any varsity experience, the Lady Hawks had never seen film of the second-year pitcher, and were unable to scout their opponent beforehand. Willis delivered for Bushland, notching an impressive performance that allowed her team to build an early lead.
“She’s actually our JV pitcher,” Bushland head coach Tayler Frye said. “She spins the ball incredibly well. Our girls have a hard time hitting her, just because of how tight her spin is. It’s insane. I was a pitcher myself, so I talk about how much you need to spin (the ball) all of the time.”
What impressed Frye the most was Willis’ mindset.
“One thing that I am still baffled about is how level headed she was. I actually just talked to her mom about it. And the way that she was able to come on, emotionless, just, ‘You know what, I’ve got a job to do, I’m here. I’ve never played a varsity game ever before, but you know, why not the third round of playoffs?’ And I was like, ‘Well, this could be really, really good, it could be really, really bad.’ And good thing, it was really, really good.”
Even after trailing for the first five innings, the Lady Hawks didn’t panic, uplifting one another and waiting for their opportunity to strike.
As the game progressed and the Lady Falcons changed pitchers, Iowa Park finally got going on offense. A single from Rowan Pike tied the game at two in the sixth inning followed by a three-run homer from Huse that gave the Lady Hawks their first lead.
Eric Simmons’ team was able to hold Bushland scoreless in the team’s final two at-bats, securing a series victory and a spot in the Region I-3A Division II final.
This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: ‘We lift each other up more’: How the Iowa Park softball team became a ‘tight-knit’ group
Reporting by Randall Sweet, Amarillo Globe-News / Amarillo Globe-News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
