Freedom Christian looks to build on last year’s state title
By Jaclyn Shambaugh
Staff writer FAYETTEVILLE OBSERVER
Freedom Christian put together a monster of a season in 2016.
The Patriots overcame some early losses to large public schools before stringing together an 11-game winning streak that took the team to its first NCISAA 2-A state title.
They did it without a senior on the roster, relying instead on the combined strength of a crop of talented underclassmen.
Every player from the Patriots’ state championship team is back, plus a couple of new additions.
“We’re stronger than we were last year,”new head coach Elmer Mason said.
The Patriots’ state title run was a singular experience, made bittersweet by head coach Eddie Dees’ battle against pancreatic cancer.
After announcing his diagnosis to the team during tryouts, Dees spent the season undergoing treatment while coaching. Dees died June 20, almost a month after the team won the championship, and left behind a rich legacy of softball development in the county.
Pitcher Miranda McKoy said Dees was careful not to make the season about himself or the disease.
“He didn’t really want us to play for him,” McKoy said. “He wanted us to play because we love it. But a part of it is, we love it because we love him. In a way, he pushed us harder than we pushed ourselves.”
McKoy, now a senior, and catcher Molly Montgomery were NCISAA all-state selections last season.
McKoy was a first-year Patriot after transferring from South View before the start of the 2016 season, while Montgomery, a sophomore, has been a Freedom starter since middle school.
McKoy said the players were familiar from time spent together on travel-ball teams and entered the season determined to play for a state championship.
“I think everybody had the drive to do it,” McKoy said. “We really took the ‘no days off’ thing literally. Even in the rain, we still were out. And nobody really complained. That was our goal, and it would have been devastatingifwehadn’tmet it.” While Dees was a regular presence despite his illness, Mason said he and the other coaches, all volunteers, handled much of the day-to-day coaching duties.
As Freedom mounts its latest effort at a state-title season, McKoy said that while Dees won’t be seated in his old spot at the dugout door, the coach’s spirit is still strong at the field.
“The first day of practice, it was really moving to be back out here after everything that happened last year,” McKoy said. “People might think it’s going to fade. It doesn’t fade. He’s always here.”
By Jaclyn Shambaugh
Staff writer FAYETTEVILLE OBSERVER
Freedom Christian put together a monster of a season in 2016.
The Patriots overcame some early losses to large public schools before stringing together an 11-game winning streak that took the team to its first NCISAA 2-A state title.
They did it without a senior on the roster, relying instead on the combined strength of a crop of talented underclassmen.
Every player from the Patriots’ state championship team is back, plus a couple of new additions.
“We’re stronger than we were last year,”new head coach Elmer Mason said.
The Patriots’ state title run was a singular experience, made bittersweet by head coach Eddie Dees’ battle against pancreatic cancer.
After announcing his diagnosis to the team during tryouts, Dees spent the season undergoing treatment while coaching. Dees died June 20, almost a month after the team won the championship, and left behind a rich legacy of softball development in the county.
Pitcher Miranda McKoy said Dees was careful not to make the season about himself or the disease.
“He didn’t really want us to play for him,” McKoy said. “He wanted us to play because we love it. But a part of it is, we love it because we love him. In a way, he pushed us harder than we pushed ourselves.”
McKoy, now a senior, and catcher Molly Montgomery were NCISAA all-state selections last season.
McKoy was a first-year Patriot after transferring from South View before the start of the 2016 season, while Montgomery, a sophomore, has been a Freedom starter since middle school.
McKoy said the players were familiar from time spent together on travel-ball teams and entered the season determined to play for a state championship.
“I think everybody had the drive to do it,” McKoy said. “We really took the ‘no days off’ thing literally. Even in the rain, we still were out. And nobody really complained. That was our goal, and it would have been devastatingifwehadn’tmet it.” While Dees was a regular presence despite his illness, Mason said he and the other coaches, all volunteers, handled much of the day-to-day coaching duties.
As Freedom mounts its latest effort at a state-title season, McKoy said that while Dees won’t be seated in his old spot at the dugout door, the coach’s spirit is still strong at the field.
“The first day of practice, it was really moving to be back out here after everything that happened last year,” McKoy said. “People might think it’s going to fade. It doesn’t fade. He’s always here.”
