|
|||||||||||||
Printer-Friendly
Email this Story
Post a Comment (0)
CCHS-Highland meet for county softball supremacy
Until Eastern View opens in the fall, this may be the closest Culpeper has to an intra-county rivalry.On Friday afternoon at CCHS, the Blue Devilettes' softball team will host Highland School. The two teams will then meet again next Wednesday at Highland.
The Hawks, in just their third year of existence, are slowly turning into Culpeper North. Highland's 2008 roster consists of seven Culpeper County residents — including heavily recruited junior Maire Shaughnessy.
Highland won the Virginia Independent Schools Division II state title in 2007. And the CCHS softball team is a serious contender for, at the very least, the Cedar Run District crown in 2008.
But it is hard not to think about what might have been.
Those Highland athletes, without choosing to go the private school route, would be donning the CCHS colors.
And that version of the Devilettes had infinite potential.
"I've thought about it," said Shaughnessy. "It would have been quite a team."
Hawks second baseman Hannah Safren, another Culpeper transfer, concurred.
"We would have been sick, I think we would have been sick," Safren said. "With or without us, (CCHS has) a good squad."
With them, though, there is no telling what heights CCHS might have attained.
In addition to its current Culpeper crop, Highland also utilized Reba Tutt's talents in 2006 and '07. Tutt, a Culpeper native who now starts for the University of Pittsburgh's softball team, was a key component in Highland's state championship run.
"Had we had Shaughnessy and Reba two years ago, or a year ago, I truly believe that we would have been unstoppable," CCHS coach Janice Gillespie said.
Even though the teams will go their separate ways after those meetings, one thing is clear: Culpeper County is producing a boatload of softball talent.
Maybe more than one school can hold.
"Culpeper is a softball factory, really," said Highland coach Donald O'Meara who is a Culpeper resident himself and previously coached the Devilettes' JV. "I guess the good thing is that with the kids coming (to Highland), it gives the other kids that are there a chance to play."
The softball programs will feel the crunch even further next season, with EVHS beginning play.
Still, the successes shared by Culpeper and Highland hint that all three locally-populated rosters could be extremely talented.
"They breed softball players, I'm telling you," Safren said of her hometown. "Reba Tutt last year, Maire this year, I played for Culpeper — they just have a bunch of great players come out of there."
All of that talent should lead to a pair of hotly contested CCHS-Highland showdowns in the next week.
Highland won a 7-4, eight-inning game against the Devilettes last year.
"Heck yeah, those are fun games," Safren said. "That's what softball is all about — it's a good rivalry, we're close in distance and, of course, a lot of us came from Culpeper."
"What might have been" may look impressive.
Of course, for both Highland and CCHS, "what is" doesn't look too bad.
You must be logged in to post a comment.