By Thomas Sellers Jr.
The Brighton Softball tradition is filled with district and Regional titles.
Going to State is commonplace and Lady Cardinals inking national letters of intent happens multiple times each school year. Head Coach Robin Jacobs was in a familiar position Dec. 3 in the Brighton Gymnasium Lobby watching his latest player secure her college future. But the twist on this Signing Day was second baseman Timily David being joined by her mother and former Lady Cardinal Heidi Delashmit for her big moment.
“She has taken it to the next level,” Jacobs said of David. “It was the thing when we started this school. I personally wanted to be around when we had mothers and daughters, fathers and sons, brothers and cousins come back and play.
“That’s starting to happen now,” he continued. “Hopefully that’s going to propel us, the whole school, onto another avenue of sports. It’s exciting to see one and the other. They both have similarities in how they play. You can tell that’s mom and daughter.”
David shared her special moment with past coaches, current teammates, friends, Dyersburg State Softball Head Coach George White and family members Gunter, Heidi and Chad Delashmit.
“A lot of blood, sweat and tears went into this,” Gunter said. “A lot of talent, she bats left and throws right. Always been a good athlete and one of those competitive kids who just wants it.
“I played baseball and her mom played softball,” he continued. “She got it from her mother’s competitiveness. She got speed, because Heidi was pretty fast. She played second base as well.”
Heidi noted Gunter’s investment of time in helping Timily sharpen her natural skills.
“When she started early, he invested skills in her,” Heidi noted. “She started learning fundamentals a 10-year-old would be doing. He started her young because he is an advanced baseball player. Her fundamentals are elite. She’ll do some different plays other kids her age just wouldn’t do. He taught her fundamentals early and she just kept getting better.”
Timily’s love of the game started at the age of 4 in the Atoka Dixie League. The next step for Timily was six years of play with Legends Softball starting at age of 7.
Her time at Brighton has been a roller coaster with success on the diamond, a COVID-19 cancellation and a 2021 season full of adjustments. The next step for Timily’s softball career was going to be over the river. “With COVID it all came to a stop,” Gunter recalled. “All the leads she had went silent. It changed her plans, it changed money. She had a big offer from UCA. A big Division I school, a great school, great offer. She took it but they had coaching changes. The new coach came in and it wasn’t a fit for her. So she decided to go to Dyersburg.
”The changes of Central Arkansas made Timily reevaluate her future. “I was really nervous about it because you heard a lot of people not getting as many looks as before COVID started,” Timily recalled. “I really didn’t know if that was the best opportunity for me at that point. I had to walk away from it.
“Dyersburg State contacted me and I thought, ‘this may be a better opportunity for me,’” she continued. “Then he contacted Kelsey Camp, who is like my best friend. I’ve played ball with her since I started travel ball. We were just talking about it and thinking about it and I said, ‘Hey this will be fun. When I committed to UCA I was like it’s three hours away. I was a little nervous about it at first. Dyersburg contacted me and I think this is a better option.”
Timily is happy to be closer to home and now her mother can process the transition to the college level a bit easier.
“I am filled with mixed emotions because my baby has grown up,” Heidi acknowledged. “I am real happy but I am also like ‘I am so sad.’”
Jacobs said losing a senior class each year is bittersweet but having the chance to coach one of his former stars’ daughters is a pure joy.
“She can play second base and she’s way up there,” he said. “She does a really good job for us. She’s a legacy player. Her mother played the same position. We’re looking for the same results like when her mother played, that kind of success.
“Timily is a hard-nose player,” Jacobs added. “She takes to coaching and plays really hard. That’s what I like about her. I like her attitude when it comes to playing. She’s in the mode of all those good players we talk about all the time.”
Timily wants to be the next Lady Cardinal who goes to college and has a good job when adulthood comes around. She plans to major in Education and maybe go into coaching. She would mind coming back to Brighton and continuing her bond with the Lady Cardinals.
“My mom when she played her she played second base too,” she noted. “Then she battled left-handed like I do. I just naturally got it from my mom. I learned from her to work hard to be where you need to be.”
