Lady Gladiators show signs of going far after Spring Break Classic

Image: The eyes of Jennifer Reeves, Sa’Kendra Norwood and Breyanna Beets — With their focus on the big picture, the Lady Gladiators pull inspiration from Constantine just before the Battle of the Milvian Bridge against Maxentius on October 28, 312. According to legend, a cross appeared to Constantine in the sky, after which he adopted the Latin motto “In hoc signo vinces” (In this sign you shall conquer).

The eyes of Jennifer Reeves, Sa’Kendra Norwood and Breyanna Beets — With their focus on the big picture, the Lady Gladiators pull inspiration from Constantine just before the Battle of the Milvian Bridge against Maxentius on October 28, 312. According to legend, a cross appeared to Constantine in the sky, after which he adopted the Latin motto “In hoc signo vinces” (In this sign you shall conquer).

Farmers Branch, Texas — The Italy Lady Gladiators Softball Team competed in the Spring Break Classic in Farmers Branch this past Thursday and Saturday. The only 1A school in the tournament, Italy finished in 3rd Place within the Silver bracket.

On Thursday, coaches Jennifer Reeves, Andrea Windham, Tina Richards and the Lady Gladiators played 3 pool games to determine tournament seeding.

In the first game against the 5A Flower Mound Lady Jaguars, Italy held their own but were unable to generate any runs in a 4-0 loss to the Lady Jags.

In their second game of pool play, the Midland Lady Bulldogs circled the bases 6 times to Italy’s none in a 6-0 win over the Lady Gladiators.

In the final game on Thursday, the Lady Gladiators finally broke into the scoring column but couldn’t hit their way into the win column absorbing an 11-1 loss to 3A China Springs. Courtney Westbrook was brought home by an Alyssa Richard’s RBI single to center field for Italy’s only score of the game.

“I was really pleased with “Court” (pitcher Courtney Westbrook) early on. Despite her struggles on the mound, she never doubted herself and just kept working. In fact, it was her lead-off triple that setup our first run of he tournament," said Coach Reeves.

To start tournament play within the Silver bracket of the Spring Break Classic, the Lady Gladiators recovered from their pool play woes and knocked the stripes off the 2A Grandview Zebras to earn a 1-0 victory. Westbrook recorded 8 strikeouts in the matchup.

Against the 5A Grand Prairie Lady Gophers, Italy’s long ballers remained grounded as the Lady Gophers burrowed in on defense to dig out a 6-0 win over the Lady Gladiators. Westbrook did, however, manage 5 strikeouts against those pesky rodents.

In Italy’s final game of the Spring Break Classic, the Lady Gladiators won a close one over the 3A Snyder Lady Tigers, 3-2. The 1-point win secured a 3rd place finish in the Silver bracket of the tournament for the Lady Gladiators.

Westbrook added 5 more strikeouts against Snyder and finished with 23 strikeouts all together.

Congratulations to freshman catcher Alyssa Richards who made the Spring Break Classic All-Tournament Team. Richards threw out 6 base runners at 2nd during the tournament.

The Lady Gladiators will travel as a team to watch the softball game between UTA and Baylor on Tuesday at the UTA campus. The team will start district play the week following spring break.

Good luck Lady Gladiators!