The last lap
Priceville softball soaks up the last moments on its home field.
Change is one of the few constants in life, as much as human nature fights against it and hates it.
In many instances, there is much good to be found in change. Graduating a particular education level and moving on to the next, being promoted at work, getting married. Those things are great. Some are not so great.
Even the best changes often carry with them some sense of grief, as the “way that was” turns into something new. The knowledge that what has become comfortable is about to shift, even if it’s for the better.
Such is the case for many softball teams over the next couple weeks, whether at the high school or college level. Teams that have spent months together will play their last contest with one another and break away to the next life phase in the blink of an eye. Most of those teams will do so after a tough defeat, but even the eventual championship teams will grieve the end of a long journey.
But in the case of Priceville softball, the end of this season includes an extra layer of change. The Bulldogs, along with their baseball counterparts, have played the final game at their current home and are preparing to begin playing at a new field next year.
It is brand new and shiny, and has an artificial turf surface. It will be a fantastic new home for the program.
Looking around the facility at Priceville, which is housed at the current junior high campus, it’s obvious that the years have taken its toll. It’s certainly been a good home for the Bulldogs and has seen the baseball and softball teams win a lot of games over the years. And there is ample excitement about what’s next, but there certainly is some nostalgia to be dealt with by the previous generation of players and coaches that have poured their heart and souls into the moments that took place on that field.
On April 27, Priceville’s softball team played its final home game at the existing field, and invited past players and coaches to return for a final lap — literally and figuratively — down memory lane.
Priceville earned a win on that day, and afterwards, the current seniors (Peyton Goss, Kelsey Green, Madison Lafountain and Elizabeth Murphy) and the alumni who made it took a trip around the bases one last time. They made vials of the dirt as keepsakes and said goodbye to a place that has meant so much to them at one time or another in their lives.
Plenty of alumni made an appearance: Bentley Black, Maddie (Black) Neely, Darby Thigpen and former player and coach Emily Williams to name a few.
The first pitch at Priceville’s softball field was in 2002, and the final pitch in 2026. Twenty-five seasons of memories for the Bulldogs, and all-state players like Jessica Hopper, Danielle Richard (three times, including Class 4A MVP in 2010), Meaghan Bond, McKenzie Parker, Hannah Smyth, Reagan Walter (twice), Destinee Hargrove, Abigail Garrison, Bentley Black (twice), Wrozlie Barnett and Elizabeth Murphy.
Next season will look different, but promises to be the start of an exciting new chapter for the Priceville program.
Thanks to Ben Murphy and Priceville Dawg House for contributing to this story.