GENTRY — Ten girls from the Eagle Observer coverage area will be traveling to the United States Specialty Sports Association's national championship tournament for the Southeastern Division. The girls, 10 and 11 years old, will be competing on the softball diamond with girls their age and older for the softball championship.
Gentry Pride is an 11 and under fast-pitch softball team which had already played 47 games, as of Friday. The team record was near 500, with 24 wins and 23 losses; but that is doing great for a team which has a 0-0 record against other 11U teams because all its opponents have been teams with girls a year or more older than the Gentry players.
Clay Stewart began coaching the girls three years ago when asked by Kyleigh Wheaton, the daughter of his best friend who drowned in the Illinois River in 2012 saving Kyleigh.
In the team's first year of recreational league softball, the girls finished fourth or fifth in the league, according to Stewart. Last year, they were undefeated. So, this year, the team moved up to a traveling league and plays other teams in northwest Arkansas, northeast Oklahoma, southwest Missouri and southeast Kansas - teams within 100 or 200 miles, Stewart said.
"At first, we lost every game," Stewart said, "but then we started winning some and coming back as the girls got better," he added.
Stewart, who has been coaching baseball and softball for 19 years, including being an assistant coach for the Gentry High School girls' softball team, said the move up has made his girls better players because they face tougher competition and are playing against teams made up of girls older than they are.
Stewart, a sergeant at the Gentry Police Department, said his team tries to play in one big tournament each year. This year's outing to Gulf Shores, Ala., on July 18-23, will give the girls a chance to play for the championship in the USSSA Southeast Division. As of Friday, 38 teams from across the southeastern U.S. had signed up for the tournament.
Members of the Gentry Pride 11U team include: Madison Boyles, Liberty Brannon, Afton Finnell, Bailey Galloway, Mattison Hamilton, Kyleigh Wheaton, Mazzi Jones, Shanie Barbee, Paige Greer and Malea Wilson. Assisting Stewart with coaching duties are dads Ronnie Barbee and Matt Hamilton.
The team has been conducting fundraisers for the trip. Tickets were sold for Gentry Night at Arvest Ballpark, tonight (July 13), with half the proceeds going to support the Gentry team.
Whether they win or lose next week in Gulf Shores, the experience of playing against the top teams in the nation will, no doubt, strengthen the Gentry girls in their endeavor to be the best they can be at a sport they love. And it is certain that the Gentry Pride team will make Gentry proud. It already has!
Sports on 07/13/2016