The Knights softball team advanced to the state playoffs for the first time since 1990, falling to Harris County 15-0 in the first round of the playoffs.
Although the playoff run was short-lived, first-year head coach Jon Bookspun said the playoff experience is crucial to building the future of the program. The team finished 13-5 overall and 11-3 in Region 4AAAA, advancing to the playoffs as the third seed.
“I feel really good about [the season],” Coach Bookspun said. “It really hit them that it was the first time in their lifetimes that we’d ever been to the playoffs. It was such a great experience, playing the season, winning so many games, and seeing so much improvement as the season went along. They grew so much and got so much experience. The players handled it well, and it gives us a springboard to move forward toward getting better.”
Coach Bookspun said freshmen from Howard Middle School made a huge difference.
“We knew we had seniors who were really good, but that’s not enough to make the whole team really good,” Coach Bookspun said. “The wild thing is that Howard has gotten so good in the last couple years that when we had tryouts, we not only had all the seniors, sophomores and juniors, we had eight or 10 girls show up who were incoming freshmen.”
Senior Chloe Peyton said the addition of many freshmen to the team has been a welcomed change.
“This is definitely our youngest team, but it’s full of lots of talent,” Peyton said. “[The freshmen] came and fit right in on the field, bringing strong bats offensively and great defense. They’ve contributed a lot this season to help us get to where we are.”
Senior Megan Bookspun, who is also Coach Bookspun’s daughter, said the strength of the team this year has been its teamwork and ability to play well as a group.
“We all worked really well together,” Megan Bookspun said. “Everyone has their individual strengths, but as a team, we felt very connected and everybody played their part so we just did very well.”
As a result of being the first Midtown softball team to make the playoffs in over three decades, Coach Bookspun said the team has had to adjust to the level of play of playoff teams.
“The things we’re still working on is that we’re not used to being one of the better teams yet,” Coach Bookspun said. “When we play one of those teams like Pace or someone like that who’s been good for years, they know exactly what to do in every situation, and they’re ready to win in the playoffs. But we haven’t been in the playoffs in 35 years, so it’s taking us some time to get used to that level of play.”
Senior Sari D’Agostino said the team has benefited from the consistently focused mentality of the players.
“One of our strengths is our readiness to play every single day,” D’Agostino said. “Everyone is ready to get on the field and play their best, no matter what. A weakness would be that we don’t always know what to do in certain situations. We know it does not harm us too much because we are still able to make the plays we need to make to win games.”
Coach Bookspun said in past years, injuries have made a large impact, but the team has stayed healthy this year.
“We’ve had some other years where someone has torn an ACL or someone truly goes down, but that just hasn’t happened this year,” Coach Bookspun said. “There are lots of bumps and lots of bruises, but it’s been one of those mostly healthy years.”
Since no teams have made the playoffs in recent Midtown history, the team had to reach out to other schools like Pace and Decatur for information about expectations.
“We have had to call around a lot. I’ve had a lot of emails and phone calls just about what to expect,” Coach Bookspun said. “It’s been 35 years since Midtown was in the softball playoffs, so, there was literally nobody to ask, ‘What are our expectations at this point?’ When we talked to Pace and Decatur and some of these organizations that are always in the playoffs, we were trying to figure out what’s realistic and how far we’re going to have to drive.”
Peyton said although the team was disjointed throughout the summer, its chemistry built up quickly throughout the season.
“We didn’t get to practice much as a whole team over the summer, so when August came, we finally got to do introductions,” Peyton said. “After a few practices, our chemistry began to grow until it became a family. I think we have a great team atmosphere that we look forward to being part of. We all communicate and constantly cheer each other on. There’s never any negativity in the dugout, even if we’re not winning.”
Coach Bookspun said the team’s success will also continue to attract young players who can build up the program in the future.
“One of the things that’s happened is that Howard sees how good these girls are, and then Howard kept building a really great program this year,” Coach Bookspun said. “They’ve got players in 7th and 8th grade who are super excited after watching us play this year. It keeps a pipeline of really good players coming up for softball. We’re just a whisker away from making a really big impact.”
