BY DANIEL SCHMIDT
THE OBSERVER
OPELIKA — After Opelika Middle School disbanded its softball team earlier this year, a void was left behind for area girls who play the sport.
After many of those players found themselves having to either try out for Opelika High School’s varsity and junior varsity teams or not play at all, the Opelika Blaze travel team saw the opportunity to fill that gap.
As a result, Blaze coaches Avery Davis and Libby Gaberlavage decided to add a 12U team after featuring only a 10U team last year.
With tryouts having recently ended, the team is preparing to play this fall travel ball season.
Davis said nearly 30 girls tried out and that she expects to field a final roster including roughly 12 players.
“We’re looking forward to growing our team and making everybody better, and that’s all we can do with the middle school team being gone,” Davis said.
After not having enough players initially to field both a 10U team and a 12U team, Davis added that the Blaze will only have the newly-created 12U team this upcoming travel ball season.
“We’ve taken a lot of those [10U] kids into our [12U] tryouts, and they’re really excited to still have the opportunity to play for Blaze,” Davis said. “[The players] have enjoyed it. I think our 12U kids have really taken them under their wing and been sweet to them, and that’s what we’re looking for.”
Among those who had tried out is 13-year-old Payton Beasley, who has played softball since she was 5.
When she tried out for OHS’s junior varsity team this spring, she said she left believing that she wasn’t quite ready for that level of competition yet.
“I did try out for that JV team, and I thought that I did need some work,” Beasley said. “And this will be the work, so I can make it next time.”
The game runs in her family. Her great-great-grandmother, her grandmother, and her mother all played, and Beasley started in T-ball before moving up.
“I played T-ball, and I really liked it, so I moved on to softball,” Beasley said.
While Beasley said she was initially disappointed with the news that the middle school team was being disbanded, she understood that the number of players necessitated it.
“I was a little upset, but not that upset,” Beasley said. “I mean, it makes sense, because we had kind of a small team last year.”
Despite the circumstances, Beasley said her goals for the coming season revolve around fundamentals, and not all of them show up in a box score.
“I want to work on my fielding and my batting skills, like the basic skills that you need to perfect,” Beasley said, adding she also wants to become a better all-around athlete, show better sportsmanship and be a good teammate.
Her grandmother, Gwen Black, said the chance to keep developing carries real weight.
“What it means to my granddaughter is a lot,” Black said. “She prides herself in her work, and she was trying really hard to make that other team. The opportunities that this is going to offer her are great.”
Beasley then credited her batting instructor, recently-graduated OHS softball catcher K.G. Soltau, with much of her progress.
“She’s helped me a lot,” Beasley said.
According to Beasley, the season ahead is now a vital bridge to next spring’s tryouts.
“I think that if I work super hard this travel ball season and I do very well, I have a very good chance of making the JV team [next time],” Beasley said.
Opelika Blaze wraps up softball tryouts
