SPRING SPOTLIGHT: Huge senior class lays the foundation for Lady Cats

While the first season under head coach Kate (Benton) Stump didn’t turn out the way the Enterprise Lady Cats softball team had hoped, a huge class of eight seniors helped lay the foundation to bring success to the program.

Those eight seniors included Mattie Bowden, Elizabeth Williams, Danielle Holley, Sarah Holland, Katie Snell, Brittany Womack, Julianna McCollough and Shani Waters. All eight played leadership roles, according to their coach.

“They started last summer (to take on a leadership role) when we started summer workouts,” Stump said. “They wanted to make a change and be mentally and physically tougher. When January rolled around we had a tough conditioning program and they led everything during that.

“They held each other accountable and really played a huge role in the foundation of our program. I couldn’t have asked for a better senior class to start out with.”

Holley said that the seniors knew that the team would go wherever they led it.

“The seniors set the tone for the rest of the team,” Holley said. “I can honestly say that the team has never been so close as it was this year. We had eight seniors this year and we all made the decision at the beginning of the season that we all wanted to be someone that the younger girls could look up to and depend on.

If we were down then everyone else would be down and if we were up then the whole team would be up. I think the seniors did a really good job and knew how important it was to help lay the foundation for years to come.”

The Lady Cats went 9-8 while the season was playing but the whole team felt like they were starting to turn the corner.

“That was the biggest disappointment of it all, just because we saw this team finally coming together and figuring out what kind of team they were going to be,” Stump said. “It was a bummer but it is what it is and we can only control what we can control. I was super proud of them, though. They were figuring some things out and coming together as a team. I couldn’t be more proud of them.”

Williams agreed with her coach.

“I think the team was really coming together very well,” Williams emphasized. “I was very excited to see where the season was going to go and really sad that it got cut short when it did because it felt like we were really starting to come together.”

Williams said she felt like the Lady Cats could make a run in regionals.

“I think we could have won our area and made it pretty far in regionals,” Williams said. “We were really close as a team. The bond we had was greater than any other year in my opinion. With the leadership of Coach Stump and the way things were going, it was going to be a great season.”

Stump said that she saw the same potential in her team.

“I think the potential was there and we would have made a run at regionals,” Stump said. “It was finally starting to come together and I just hate that we couldn’t see it through.”

Stump and her players said that the closeness of the senior class was the thing that stood out most about her senior group.

“I think what was special about this senior class was just how close they were,” Stump continued. “They’ve been playing together since they were itty bitty in (recreation) league years and for them to all stick through it and for it to end like it did just breaks my heart.

“This team was more of a family than anything and those seniors were a huge part of why we were a family.”

Williams said that her fellow seniors taught her as much off the field as on it.

“The senior class will forever hold a place in my heart,” Williams said. “They taught me so much not just on the field but off the field, too. We became really close this year and I know I’m going to always stay in touch with them because I love them all.”

Holley said that she believes the senior’s togetherness and going through a tough time this season will only make them stronger in the future.

“My fellow seniors mean the world to me,” she said. “I grew up playing with them ever since I was six.

“To be able to grow together and be together through all of this I think we’ve all become really strong people and I think we will all do great things after we graduate.”

Holley is off to Troy where she will serve as the softball team’s manager, while Williams will continue playing at Alabama State and Bowden will be playing at Wallace Community College in Dothan.