TCA Lady Lions prove age means nothing in sports

JACKSON, Tenn. — The TCA Lady Lions find themselves 11-1 in district play as district tournaments kick off this weekend. But helping them get there is a team full of underclassmen.

“Age is just a number really but we’ve got the players to make it happen and you know even though they’re younger they’re really good players,” senior pitcher Hannah Thomas said.

10 of the 12 TCA Lady Lions are filled with freshman and even 8th graders.  That group has sparked a drastic change from the .500 team they were just last season.

“We plugged them into roles maybe they weren’t expecting or maybe they were but they’ve produced for us,” head coach Tracy Brewer said. 

The lone senior, Hannah Thomas said she’s had to adapt this season, moving into the leader role, showing her group tough times don’t last, tough people, do.

“Softball is really just like a mental game and you got to have a good mindset going into it,” Thomas said.

Pieces of that mental game are something the girls picked up from their head coach Tracy Brewer before the season even began.

“Coach has really implanted that in us this year is like work hard, and you get what you work for,” freshman third baseman, Lily Kramer said.

Regardless of the outcome this season, those 11 underclassmen have one goal in mind before they graduate, add something to the history books. But in order to get there, it’s not all about home runs and strikeouts, but about bonding off the field.

“We all really work together as a team and we have really good team chemistry which honestly is the only way that we could have gotten to this point,” sophomore designated hitter, Hannah Futrell said. “We just need to stay focused and make sure that we continue to have a good time and don’t let the pressure get to us and just focus on the basics and make sure that we’re executing every play that we can.”