It is the third round of the softball state playoffs, and the Chargers are playing the Corinth Holders Pirates in a heavy rainstorm. Even after 77 bags of Quick Dry, cleats and jerseys are soaked and the field is covered in water.
Northwood’s softball team lost to Corinth Holders 10-8 May 20. Throughout the game, rain continued to disturb the field, but the umpires denied the request of the Chargers to reschedule the game during the fifth inning.
Junior Carson Shaner has been playing softball since she was seven.
“The weather was crazy; it was pouring down rain, and our cleats were in water and were soaked; our feet were wet, and our jerseys were soaked,” Shaner said. “Anna [Jasper] was pitching, and there was an eight-inch hole where she was trying to pitch on the mound. It was raining so hard we couldn’t see. It was crazy, because when we were on the field, it was raining, and then when [Corinth Holders] was on the field, it stopped raining. But it is what it is.”
Junior Hannah Fowler has been playing softball since she was seven years old. Fowler believes that the weather had a large effect on the outcome of the game Friday.
“Every time we were on the field, it was raining and every time [Corinth Holders] was on the field it wasn’t, and rain while you are fielding is a big obstacle, because Anna, our pitcher, cannot grip the ball like she normally does,” Fowler said.
For senior Payton Springle, this was her last softball game. Springle has been playing softball since she was eight years old and will not be continuing to play softball next year at East Carolina University.
“It is really sad; it has been a couple of days, and I still get really emotional about it, because I have played softball for so long, and it has been such a huge part of my life since I was little, and just the fact that it is over,” Springle said. “I will always have those memories and friendships that I made, but I will never step on a softball field again.”
Fowler has been playing with the same girls for all of high school and most of her softball career.
“It was just really upsetting, and I had a combination of anger and sadness just all put together,” Fowler said. “It was just really sad, because I have been playing with those girls my entire life, and some of them are continuing to play softball in college, but there are some who aren’t, so that was just our last game together.”
Although the Chargers lost in the third round of the playoffs, Springle is still proud of the team’s performance this season.
“I think it was a really good season overall, and we made it further than we ever have in the playoffs, so that was a big accomplishment for us,” Springle said. “We wanted to go farther and win it all, but that can’t happen every time, and I was really proud of the way we played and the way that we stuck together.”
– By Sarah Helen Shepherd
