The Lady Gladiators took a road trip this past weekend to Woodsboro for the Tournament of Champions. Italy finished 2nd in the tournament after defeating Port Aransas, Goliad, Ben Bolt, and the host school, Woodsboro. The only set back of the tournament was a 5-4 loss to Riviera.

During the tournament the Lady Gladiators proved to have a steady defense, committing only 11 errors in 5 games, and a strong offense, scoring 47 runs in 5 games. Some of the highlights of the tournament included Bailey Eubank hitting .714 for 5 games; Madison Washington pitching a great game against Goliad to earn her first win as a starting pitcher; Paige Westbrook compiling 9 RBIs in 5 games becoming a stabilizing force behind the plate and as a senior leader; April Lusk hitting her first high school home run and learning what a home run trot feels like; and Kelsey Nelson batting .417 and earning 6 RBIs for the tournament while also doing a great job in center field.

In addition, Lillie Perry did an outstanding job in both the outfield and behind the plate and continued to improve her batting enjoying many quality at-bats during the tournament. Britney Chambers did a great job playing a number of different positions on both the infield and outfield and showed steady improvement at the plate. Cassidy Childers helped out tremendously in the outfield nabbing a huge catch while playing left field; she also continued to show improvement at the plate. Hannah Washington was hampered by an ankle injury and saw limited action during the tournament, but she continued to get quality at bats and played some 3rd base. Tara Wallis had a great tournament also playing very good defense in the outfield and continuing to get on base by batting .500 and having a .786 on base percentage. Ashlyn Jacinto continued to show improvement both at the plate and on defense where she played both infield and outfield and did a great job at both positions. K’Breona Davis provided a much needed lift at the plate batting .500 and was very steady in the field at 2nd base. Jaclynn Lewis continued to pitch extremely well going 3-0 during the tournament striking out 19 batters and allowing only 2 earned runs. At the plate, she earned 8 RBIs during the tournament.

The Lady Gladiators went 4-1 in the round robin style tournament and finished in 2nd place overall. Three Lady Gladiators were also recognized as All-Tournament. Bailey Eubank, Jaclynn Lewis, and Madison Washington were named All- Tournament.

One of the main reasons for the Lady Gladiators to travel so far from home was to not only get to play plenty of good softball, but also to have some time to grow as a team. We were able to fight through a few tough situations; we learned that together we can do anything, and how to mentally fight through a tough loss at 8 a.m. but come back and beat the host school of Woodsboro in front of their home crowd at 8 that evening. While in Woodsboro, the girls also did some community service by picking up trash along a stretch of highway by the school and down a few of the streets around the town. While the long weekend was very tiring for everyone involved, the experiences and the growth we saw as a team will pay great dividends in the end.