By Thomas Sellers Jr.
The tradition of the Brighton Lady Cardinal Softball program came to life in 1999.
Head Coach Robin Jacobs and all the assistant coaches over the years have guided a Who’s Who of players to multiple district, Region and Sub-State titles. The various State Tournament appearances grew in the late 2010s.
Then the 2018 and 2019 seasons saw a stop to Brighton’s dominance in District 13-3A competing against rivals like Munford, Hardin County, Dyer County and Liberty.
“We’ve talked out it,” Jacobs acknowledged. “We have gotten blown up the last two years. It’s been a big topic of ours – how do we get through the minefield. The biggest thing is the other teams are really good. You can’t sell any of them short whether you’re talking Munford, Hardin County or Dyer County.”
2020 would be an ideal year for the resurgence of Brighton Softball with the Lady Cardinals hosting the district tournament in May.
“If you can get through them, you’re usually going to have a good run to the end,” he said. “They’re hard teams and they’ve improved over the years. We were there and they’ve caught us.
“Maybe Brighton did set that bar and they’ve caught us,” Jacobs added. “Now we’ve got to set it higher again. For one year or two, it’s not bad to be the one doing the chasing. We’re going to chase them down this year.”
Doing the chasing on the field will be pitchers like Katelyn Jones and Carley Cook.
“This is probably one of the positions we’re very excited about,” Jacobs noted. “We have Katelyn Jones, freshman. She’s really good. Then Carley Cook comes behind her and does really, really good.”
The Lady Cardinal offense will multiple parts throughout the season.
“That’s the most exciting part so far,” Jacobs said. “During batting practice in the spring, we’re having a hard time of keeping the ball in the fence. We’re hoping that’s going to be a good sign. You can look at it either two ways, that’s either good hitting or bad pitching. We’ll find out.”
Senior outfielders Karlee Haley, Charley Halford, Allye Potter and Lauryn Mahar will be the starting point on and off the field. Haley, Halford and Mahar are heading to the next level to play college softball. And Jacobs has all four seniors and senior infielder Caylee Comer as captains.
Joining Comer in the infield will be catcher Bri Howard, third baseman Kelsey Camp, shortstop Jade Howard and second baseman Timily David.
“They all played last year so we’re hoping to bring it all together,” Jacobs concluded. “The time is now. We’ve been young. It’s no more young. It’s time to go play. We’re excited about it and the kids come hard and work hard every day.”
