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  • Matt Hamilton/The Daily Citizen Northwest pitcher Emily Boyd and the rest of the Lady Bruins have their sights set on duplicating the feat of the 1987 softball team.

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September 16, 2012

Prep softball: Past Northwest Whitfield title winners hope for another

By Devin Golden devingolden@daltoncitizen.com

As some of the members of the 1987 Northwest Whitfield softball team watched Emily Boyd strike out batter after batter, the bridge started to build.

In the eyes of the previous generation of Lady Bruins, the possibilities seem limitless, and the ultimate goal appears within reach.

If anyone would know, the squad from 25 years ago is the one to ask.

On the same day the 1987 Lady Bruins were honored for capturing the state championship, the 2012 version picked up its 19th win of the season, beating Dalton 2-0 to remain undefeated in Sub-region 7B-4A play. Any team has the finish line set at winning a state championship. For this team, it appears to be a brass ring Northwest legitimately could grab.

And 25 years after the first would be the extra sprinkle on top.

“It definitely would be cool and I definitely feel like we will be able to do that,” said Boyd, Northwest’s senior ace. “I’ve felt that way for the last four years. That’s definitely our ‘untalked-about goal’ that we have. Coach (Jason) Brooker is trying to take it one game at a time.”

Brooker affirmed his method, only saying the team “can’t look that far ahead yet.” However, the person who held his title 25 years ago is willing to.

“My opinion doesn’t mean anything, but I think they can bring home a third championship,” said Mike Cole, coach of the 1987 team and coach of the 1993 state championship team. “They have the talent and the coaching.”

Aside from those things, the Lady Bruins also have recognition and respect around the state. They currently are ranked No. 1 in the Ga.PrepCountry.com Class 4A coaches poll and sit as the only ranked team with just two losses — both coming in tournaments to higher-classification opponents.

Shannon (Whaley) Walters, an outfielder on the 1987 roster, thinks a championship would be as good a 25th anniversary present as there is.

“I think it would be awesome,” she said. “I know what it takes. My daughter is a pitcher and she looks up to (Boyd).”

It’s a different game, and different teams.

In 1987, it was all slow-pitch and much more team oriented since more balls were put in play.

Now, under fast-pitch rules, a dominant pitcher can swing a season.

“It’s a lot of fun to watch this,” Walters said. “It’s a different game but a lot of fun.”

The 1987 squad did not have the same great start the current team is on. The Lady Bruins went 10-6, and Cole said the parents were starting to pressure him to bring more success. A 16-game winning streak ensued and included a win against then-undefeated Milton in the first round of the state playoffs and a 6-5 win against Coffee in the Class 3A state championship.

“I think we were the underdogs,” said Kristi (Harris) Douhne, an outfielder on the 1987 team. “It was a proud moment. I remember it like it was yesterday.”

And it was special to the seven seniors, including second baseman Jamie (Stafford) Clark.

“That was a good way to go out,” she said.

And they are wishing from the bleachers the three seniors on this year’s team — Boyd, second baseman Karli Ledford and third baseman Mykean Johnson — can have the same experience.

“It would be special,” Johnson said. “It would be special to us just to get a state ring regardless of when it is. This is my last year and my only time to get a ring. If it was five years, 10 years, it would be special to get a ring.”

The Lady Bruins move into the final week and a half of the regular season, and five games remain — home versus LaFayette, Woodland and Southeast Whitfield and away at Southeast and Ridgeland — before the week-long region tournament beginning Sept. 29 in Dalton.

It precedes the state playoffs, ending with the Final 8 in Columbus starting Oct. 25.

Despite the Lady Bruins making it to Columbus in 2011, nothing is guaranteed. That’s why the games are played on the field and not by names or rankings, just like 1987 a Northwest team that no one saw coming kept winning games.

“We’ve got to worry about the region first,” Brooker said.

But don’t think the past generation of Lady Bruins won’t be watching — and hoping — this current team make a quarter-of-a-century run at another brass ring.

“We’ll be rooting them on from here,” Walters said.

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