By Kyle LoJacono
Freedom softball coach Autum Hernandez says it regularly during practice.
It doesn’t matter what the drill is or the position of the players she’s talking to. It applies to everything for the Patriots (10-4) — do it with a purpose.
“The whole coaching staff has told them with everything do it with a purpose,” Hernandez said. “If you’re not playing in a game watch someone in the field with a purpose. When you go up to bat have a purpose. When you’re on second base have a purpose. We’ve been stressing that and letting them know they need to think about where they’re trying to hit the ball or where to throw it.”
For the fourth-year Freedom coach it’s about forming something that will last beyond one season.
“We talk about building a program here; not just a team,” Hernandez said. “It’s about creating an atmosphere where kids at Freedom want to play softball.”
That mentality has led the Patriots to one of the best starts in the program’s nine-year history including clinching the No. 2 spot in the Class 7A-District 9 tournament; their best seeding ever. The ranking puts them in position to make their first postseason, but they aren’t looking past any game.
“We just focus on the next game,” said senior first baseman Katie Gresham. “If we do that then the postseason will take care of itself.”
Gresham admits getting to regionals would be the highlight of her four years on the squad.
“I don’t even think I have words for what that would mean,” Gresham said. “A lot is all I can think of. It would be exciting to be the first team to get a banner. We don’t even have one, so to get one would be amazing.”
Freedom’s rise in the district standings comes after losing five seniors from last year.
“I was thinking it was going to be a rebuilding year,” said sophomore outfielder Ashley Wilson. “We’ve definitely surpassed that. The team is doing awesome.”
Gresham is the squad’s only senior, but the Patriots have not lacked leadership.
“The thing is we all work together really well,” Gresham said. “We don’t have one leader; we lead together.”
Freedom has also benefitted from a strong freshmen class, including pitcher Grace Street and catcher Kayla Maczuga. The duo said they have treated high school ball like every other softball team they’ve been on, which has helped with the transition.
“In practice we try to get everything down right so we do it right in games,” Street said. “Sometimes it works, but sometimes it doesn’t. That’s how softball works. You have to do the right things in practice and things will work out.”
Street has a team-high .520 batting average and 16 RBI while posting an 10-4 record, 2.11 ERA and 64 strikeouts. Maczuga is also hitting a robust .386 with nine RBI.
The freshmen are two of six Patriots hitting better than .280. Overall the squad is batting .338 with a .407 on-base percentage.
Freedom is posting eye-popping stats and racking up wins, but things started rocky. The Patriots lost their first two district games by a combined score of 14-6.
Their third 7A-9 contest was against perennial powerhouse Chamberlain (18-2), a program that has made the playoffs 13 of the last 14 years while winning the Class 5A state championship in 2003. The Chiefs eliminated Freedom from the postseason last year with a 4-3 win in the district semifinals.
The Patriots went out and handed the Chiefs their first loss of the season 5-4. It was also their first victory ever over Chamberlain in six attempts.
“My sister (Kimmy) played here for four years, so I saw Chamberlain play them a bunch of times,” Maczuga said. “Beating Chamberlain for the first time was really big for us.”
Freedom lost the rematch on March 30, but Hernandez said that first W helped change the way her players look at themselves.
“Chamberlain is always tough,” Hernandez said. “They were a tough team when I was in high school (at Robinson). Chamberlain is what everyone strives to be in our county. I think that being able to compete with them was good for this team. They weren’t in awe of playing Chamberlain. To them it’s become another game.”
Wilson added, “When you see Chamberlain, they’re a program. That’s what we want to be like. We beat them this year, but we want to be able to beat them not just this year, but every year because we’ve become a program too.”
The 7A-9 tournament is at Steinbrenner, with the championship on April 19 at 7 p.m.
The Patriots host Durant on April 10 before traveling to Riverview for the regular season finale. Both games start at 7 p.m.
–All stats as recorded to Maxpreps.com by coaches
