- November 28, 2024
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There were 45 games on the schedule Saturday, for the Lady Renegades' softball tournament.
BY MATT MENCARINI | SPORTS EDITOR
When I walked into the Dale Buttleman Softball Complex Saturday, it felt a lot more like an airport.
Families were coming and going, most weren’t from here, and players dragged bags on wheels, like luggage, as they walked toward fields or back to their cars.
But this wasn’t an airport; it was a softball tournament hosted by the Lady Renegades.
There were 41 teams playing and 45 seeding games on the schedule, before the elimination games Sunday.
If you sat and watched one of these games long enough, you’d realize that team chants aren’t generic. Each one has its own, and often each player on each team has their own.
For Taylor Daller, of the Lady Renegades 14U team, who wears No. 18, the chant is, “One-eight, one-eight one-eight one-eight,” to the tune of the “Ole, ole ole ole” chant heard at soccer games.
For Megan Daller, also of the 14U team, who wears No. 00, the chant is, “Uh oh, double-oh, here comes trouble-oh.”
This is my favorite of all the chants I heard Saturday.
And I can only assume these chants work, because Taylor Daller beat out an infield single when her teammates did her chant, and Megan Daller hit a triple, scoring Taylor Daller, when her teammates did the same for her at-bat.
It’s a small sample size, I’ll admit, but I’m a believer.
There was one other Lady Renegades game going on at this point, too, so I took the long walk, probably 20 feet, to see what was going on as the 12U team played First Coast Fire.
It wasn’t a player-specific chant that grabbed my attention during this game, though. It was Lady Renegades catcher Madelyn Childs. I think catchers at this level are at a tremendous disadvantage, especially when runners are allowed steal bases — or attempt to steal, like in this case.
With two outs and Childs behind the plate, the runner on first thought it would be a good idea to try to steal second. It wasn’t, and she didn’t. End of the inning.
Then, in the next half-inning, Childs, this time on first with two outs, decided it would be a good idea to steal second. It was, and she did.
