Varsity Softball Roster 2008		JV Softball Team 2008
Name	Grade	Name	Grade
Christina Finch	12	Kortney Richards	10
Jaci Hockenberry	12	Cassie Parker	9
Amber Rose	12	Alexa Rafferty	9
Brawley Davis	11	Kadi-Jah Sheridan	9
Jessica Eubanks	11	Mallory Graham	8
Lena Krause	11	Jalisa Gray	8
Blair Long	11	Ashley Henson	8
Sam Melton	11	Emily Humphrey	8
Katlyn Speer	11	Kirsten Marlow	8
Alyssa Warren	11	Meredith Vertress	8
Dottie Davis	9	Kaitlyn Young	8
Courtney Higgins	8	Samantha Hamann	7
Kirstyn Pracht	8	Madison Lewis	7
Caroline Waguespack	8
Emily Hester	7

2A Brackets: Games on May 13th, 2008, to played at the home of the higher seed. May 16th and 17th, 2008 games to played at Fayetteville Christian School in Fayetteville, NC.

#1Northside Christian Academy 19-2
14-0	#1Northside Christian Academy 20-2
#8 St. David's School 7-8
	Game 1 - 10:00AM	#1Northside Christian Academy 21-2
#5 Fayetteville Christian School 13-4
4-1	#5 Fayetteville Christian School 14-4
#4 Metrolina Christian Academy 13-7
		Game 4 – 4:00PM                   5/16	#1Northside Christian Academy 22-2
#3 Halifax Academy 12-4
4-3	#3 Halifax Academy 13-4
#6 High Point Christian Academy 14-3
	Game 2 – 12:00PM	#2 Gaston Christian School 14-5
#7 Village Christian Academy 9-4			Game 6 (see note) Game 7 (if necessary)	#1Northside Christian Academy 23-3
2-0	#2 Gaston Christian School 13-5
#2 Gaston Christian School 12-5
		#2 Gaston Christian School 14-6
	#5 Fayetteville Christian School 14-5	Game 5- 10:00AM              5/17	#2 Gaston Christian School 15-6
	Game 3 - 2:00PM	#5 Fayetteville Christian School 15-5
	#3 Halifax Academy 13-5
5/13	5/16		5/17

Note:   Game 6 will begin approximately one half hour after game 5.  

             Game 7 (if necessary) will begin one half hour after game 6

Travel team allows girls to showcase talent

 

Staff photo by David Smith

The Cape Fear Wildcats have been one of the most dominant fast-pitch softball teams in the area. Members of the team include, from left, Caitlin Sandy, Leah Jones, Jordan Scarboro, Samantha Melton, Lauren Oldham, Mariah Fuentes and McKenzie Harrelson.

By Jaclyn Shambaugh
Correspondent

 

Softball insiders in the Cape Fear region know that for players to turn the sport they love into college dollars, the only place to go is the Carolina Wildcats, the area’s most dominant fast-pitch travel team.

Wildcats softball at the 18-and-under level has been a producer of several college-bound athletes since its inception 10 years ago, with the program boasting more than 80 alumni who have received scholarships. But as the sport has grown and become more competitive, college programs have begun looking at players even younger, meaning the 16-and-under squad is now attracting the attention of college recruiters.

Jeff McPhail, who shares coaching duties of the Cape Fear varsity softball team with Mack Page, manages the 16-and-under team.

McPhail has been with the Wildcats organization for seven years, originally managing the 14-and-under team when his daughter, Megan, joined the squad. After a short break last year, McPhail was asked to return to the program when the 16-and-under team was in need of a coach.

Without a single returning player, McPhail, with the assistance of coaches Page and Craig Wilkins, was soon on the recruiting trail, organizing an entirely new group of girls who began practice in January.

“It was a brand new team that got started back last fall,” McPhail said. “We had a little base of two or three players. And then players knew other players who were looking for a team. And it just snowballed that winter and spring, picking up players really by word of mouth.”

The roster has had as many as 14 girls during the summer and fall seasons, working around a core of 10 players, who combined to finish with a 72-20 record in 13 tournaments and ended the season on a 28-game winning streak.

“When we first started, it took three or four weekends for the players to get to know one another,” McPhail said. “By midsummer, I could tell everything was really coming around. It was the most games I’ve ever done in a season. I don’t know that I’d ever do it again.”

The tournaments were held between May and November, beginning on Memorial Day weekend and ending on Veterans Day weekend. The were held in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia, a grueling schedule that requires commitment and plenty of travel, from every player, for half the year.

“They don’t have an outside life,” McPhail said. “It’s just about every weekend on a ball field.”

Pitcher Samantha Melton, a junior at Fayetteville Christian School who was a late addition for the Wildcats, doesn’t mind the commitment.

“It doesn’t bother me at all to play every weekend,” Melton said. “I don’t know what else I would do with my time. I just really enjoy it.”

Melton is one of just six local players, while the remaining crew is composed of out-of-towners who travel from as far away as Greenville, Pittsboro and Wilmington to play.

No player on the 16-and-under squad has her driver’s license, meaning most of the parents are responsible for getting players to and from practices and tournaments.

Expensive venture

It isn’t cheap to play for the Wildcats either. The cost per season ranges from $3,500 to $4,000 per player to cover hotel and food expenses, plus an $800 fee to pay for uniforms and insurance.

There are peripheral costs to competing at the travel league level as well.

“All of these girls work out during the week also,” McPhail said. “They have personal pitching instructors and hitting instructors. They don’t just play on the weekends.”

But the benefits far outweigh the inconveniences for players, who sacrifice summer and fall weekends and social lives to have an opportunity to play and perhaps earn college scholarships.

This year’s Wildcats squad played in seven showcase tournaments, events that serve to exhibit the players’ talents to college coaches from around the region.

“A college coach is not going to come to a high school game and just watch a couple of players,” McPhail said. “At a showcase tournament, where there’s anywhere from 25 to 100 teams there, they have a lot of players to look at.”

Melton admits that the idea of earning a college scholarship frequently crosses her mind.

“I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately because we’ve been playing in so many showcase tournaments,” she said. “It doesn’t make me nervous or anything. But I feel like this was big year for me.”

Melton led the team with a .496 batting average and a .790 slugging percentage.

As a result of the showcases, four players were invited to Western Carolina University for an official visit, an unusual occurrence outside the 18-and-under level.

“We’re at a young age at the 16s,” McPhail said. “It’s not like these girls have a lot of college coaches looking at them, like at the 18s. But by the end of the summer, these girls had made a name for themselves in the state.”

Melton joined teammates Jordan Scarboro, Kayla Saliga and Mariah Fuentes on the visit.

Scarboro, a shortstop and a resident of Wake Forest who led the team with 90 hits, nine home runs, and 98 runs scored, was surprised by the information provided to the players at Western.

“They really told you a lot about what they expect you to be as a student more than an athlete,” Scarboro said. “I thought they’d be telling me how much I needed to run, but they were telling me what my grades needed to be.”

“That’s what the program is designed for,” McPhail said. “I call coaches and talk to them, but a lot of it is up to the players. They have to make decisions about what school is right for them and what they want to do academically.”