COLUMBUS – It’s been a season of resilience and a season of triumph so far for New Hope’s softball team – one that featured them battling through some injuries and a tough regular-season slate to make the second of back-to-back appearances in the second round of the Class 5A playoffs.
Coming off a North State Championship game appearance last season, the Trojans (20-12) carried on the momentum into this year’s campaign and broke through the 20-win mark for the second straight year thanks to a first-round sweep of Vicksburg in which the Gators were held scoreless in back-to-back 18-0 losses.
It took a lot of lessons learned to get their current point, some through losses against tough teams early on, some through wins, but it’s why the Trojans are feeling fired up to continue their trek toward a state championship.
“They have kind of bought into the idea before this year that we are always going to start facing Goliath early just to get us ready for (the playoffs),” head coach Casey Halford said. “On the mental side of that, it makes them tougher because they have to find the lessons in the losses, so we just have to self-analyze and figure out changes and what we have to get better and things like that.”
The Trojans started out the year with back-to-back wins before their first loss at the hands of reigning Class 4A champion Itawamba Agricultural, 4-0.
A 16-5 win over Manatachie got the squad back on track before the rest of the schedule’s haymakers were thrown. New Hope succumbed to losses to Northeast Jones and St. Patrick – both playoff squads a year ago – and a win over Hamilton was soured soon after in a defeat at South Panola, the Class 6A North State runner-up. New Hope fired back with wins over 7A Oxford and Class 1A state runner-up Myrtle and succumbed to three more losses with two more wins for a 13-9 record it took to Region 1-5A play where the onslaught didn’t let up.
Four of the six teams in the region advanced to the playoffs in Class 5A and New Hope stood near the top of the group with a 7-3 finish for second in the conference – a feat the team accomplished while battling through some key injuries.
“In the very first game (of the season) we had one of our returning starters hurt her ankle and she was out for about six weeks. … She only got to play in one district series this year. We had another kid that filled a role for us in the outfield and she was in a boot from rolling her ankle during a club volleyball game, and she came back and hurt her other ankle sliding into third (base). So she was in a cast and just got that off (Wednesday). It’s just been different things that we’ve had come up. …You just have to rely on moving around and people being comfortable with being uncomfortable in situations that are thrown at them and I’ve been really proud of that. We’ve had kids that it’ll be right before a game and we’ll say, ‘Alright, you are going here today.’ They say, ‘Yes, ma’m,’ and they give me all they can.”
All of it has led to another second-round opportunity for New Hope, which began yesterday at home against Region 1-5A foe Pontotoc, a team it bested twice during the regular season. Halford said her team is primed and ready to keep chasing their state championship dreams.
“They’re just locked in,’ she said. “They have a different level of focus. They’re spending lots of time in the cages on their own time. They work all the time; they are on the field and they hold each other accountable. … They are doing a really good job of taking constructive criticism from each other to get better, so I’m really proud of the maturity that they are showing through the season that we’ve had as far as who we’ve played and the tough schedule that we’ve had. They’re still positive and they’re still hungry to learn.”
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