Every team strives to be the last team standing at the end of the season. The Perry Maroons fastpitch softball teams accomplished just that this past season by defeating Lone Grove in the Class 3A state championship game. Head coach Bryan Hayes says that he is proud of the way his squad stayed strong to reach the goals they had set for themselves.
 “We talk about goals before the start of every season,” Hayes said. “I have goals but I try not to tell the girls what they are, because I need them to ultimately have goals. It simply isn’t effective for me to try to enforce my goals on them. The girls wanted three things: be district champions, be regional and supers champions, and give ourselves a chance to compete in the state tournament to prove how dangerous we are. We were able to accomplish all three of those goals.”

While the team had players step up and make big plays, coach Hayes says that his squad did a great job of playing as a collective unit. When asked who some of the key players that stepped up to help with the championship, he could not point out just a couple of players.

“This may sound like a hokey answer but the truth is, our lineup is stinking dangerous all the way through it,” he said. “We are losing one phenomenal athlete in Kennedy Hight but everyone else returns. One through nine holes can hit the ball out, and six of those girls can flat out run. We have three pitchers who can beat anybody and our girls take tremendous pride in their defensive grit.”

When a team wins a championship, the next season can make it tough to repeat. Coach Hayes says that the Perry softball program is one that is familiar with deep playoff runs and he is looking for his squad to be prepared to do it again next season.
 “Winning a championship is something that very few teams will actually get to experience,” he said. “We have been very competitive every year, with only a few exceptions. Our biggest challenge will be reproducing the success we have had over the last two seasons. We were 68-14 during that time. I play as many larger schools and good teams as possible so that record is not full of wins vs. people who aren’t very good programs. Our challenge will be staying strong, hungry, and being dangerous like never before.”