District Fast-Pitch Softball Championship Straight Out of Hollywood

A team of 9-to-12 year-old girls from Safety Harbor recently won the District 12 fast-pitch softball “Fall Ball” championship by beating a team from . . . Safety Harbor.

No, that isn’t a typo.  For the first time, two teams from Safety Harbor faced off against each other for the district’s Major Division championship at its annual “Spook-tacular” tournament, which was held October 24-28 in Tarpon Springs.

The division consisted of twelve teams from around the area. 

The winning Safety Harbor team, the Bobcats, was coached by Shawnee Fox, now in her sixth season.  “The way these girls came together and worked so hard, as a team and as a league, brought me to tears,” Coach Fox said.  “I was so proud of everyone and feel honored to be their manager.”

The runners-up, nicknamed the Sea Turtles, were coached by Scott Jarnac and Pat Carney.  Although six girls on the team had never played the sport and none was above the age of ten, the Sea Turtles completed the regular season with just a single loss to earn the top seed in the tournament. 

“From the first day the focus was learning the fundamentals and never giving up on getting better,” said Coach Carney.  “The results were simply amazing.  Each girl ended the season with an amazing amount of self-confidence and a sense of self achievement, not to mention the understanding of the fundamentals of softball and the ability to hit, field, throw and make immediate decisions.”  

“I can't think of a girl on this team that at one point during this season, didn’t have a game changing play or two,” added Coach Carney.

Both Jarnac and Carney previously served as Fox’s assistant coaches for a team of six-to-eight year-old girls last spring, which included some of the same players now on the Sea Turtles and Bobcats.  That team won the district championship as well. 

Taking advantage of their past relationship and the ongoing friendship between many of the girls, the two teams held a joint scrimmage just ten days before the start of the tournament, where they participated in base running and fielding drills.  As Coach Fox later recalled, at the start of the joint practice, she “pulled the girls together and discussed that in the final game it should be our two teams playing each other.”   

Several weeks later, on a chilly, wind-swept field in Tarpon Springs, that vision became a reality.

The path to the finals was not easy for either team.  Both squads suffered humbling defeats during the last day of the tournament’s opening round, yet still managed to finish with one of the top four records in the division to qualify for the playoffs.  Ironically, in their semi-final matchups, both the Bobcats and Sea Turtles were paired against the teams that had soundly beaten them the previous evening.  In a situation seemingly ripped from the screen of a Disney movie, both teams would have to demonstrate their resilience and fortitude by beating their most difficult opponents to date in order to reach the finals. 

Both teams rose to the challenge.  Lexi Roy, 12, drilled a three-run home run in the first inning to give the Bobcats an early lead against a team from West Pasco.  A number of clutch defensive plays made the lead stand up, and the Bobcats advanced. 

What happened next revealed the extent of the bond between the two teams. After the Bobcats’ game ended, the girls moved en masse to the adjacent field to watch the conclusion of the other semi-final matchup.  With the Bobcats cheering them on, the Sea Turtles scored five runs in the bottom of the final inning, capping a dramatic comeback to narrowly edge Tarpon Springs, 10-9.  As the victorious team gathered in right field, Coach Fox turned to her players and exclaimed, “My team—go out there and help them celebrate!”  Immediately the Bobcats rushed out onto the field to a chorus of jubilant shrieks and yells, and the two teams merged in a sea of hugs and high-fives.  “True sportsmanship was spilling all over that field,” remembered Coach Fox.  Coach Carney called the scene the “pivotal point” of the season.

“I’ve been involved in organized baseball in one fashion or another for over 40 years and I can't remember experiencing a more exciting and emotional finish/victory than our girls were involved in with the win over Tarpon Springs to advance to the championship game in the league tournament,” Coach Jarnac later wrote.  “There is no doubt in my mind that this single game will leave a very positive and long lasting impression on each of these girls for as long as they are involved in organized sports.  More importantly, our girls learned that working as a team which included the players, parents, coaches and in this case our other Safety Harbor team (who cheered us on), that they could achieve what seemed to be an impossible goal.”

In the championship game, the Bobcats were victorious, 10-4, in what often felt more like a friendly game than a championship match.  As the girls lined up along the foul lines to receive their medals and pose for photos together, the parents and family members in the crowd cheered for both teams indiscriminately.  Regardless of the final result, everyone involved in the game and watching from the stands seemed to recognize the ultimate winner was the Safety Harbor girls’ softball program.  Coach Fox called it her “most rewarding [moment] since I have been involved with Safety Harbor Little League.”

“Personally, it is simply unbelievable the amount of joy, pride and self-fulfillment I experienced watching these girls develop and succeed in such a short period of time,” said Coach Jarnac. “There are very few things in life that can provide a person with more joy than to watch children/young adults experience self-achievement, pride and happiness.”

After a short break, softball will resume with the longer spring season.  Girls without previous experience are encouraged to participate.  Signup for the spring season is expected to begin in mid-December.  Practices will begin in January, with the season continuing into May.  For details, please visit the program’s website, http://www.leaguelineup.com/welcome.asp?url=shll.