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high school sportsSoftball

Lewisville’s rare berth in softball state tournament has school in a frenzy

The Lewisville softball team may have felt like it was walking the red carpet at school this week.

“It’s been really crazy,” senior shortstop Selena Garcia said. “People have been stopping me when I’m trying to get to class. I don’t even know who they are, and they’re saying how proud they are of us.”

Coach Lori Alexander said, “If I walk into the main campus building, it’s like I’m bombarded. Kids will walk down the hall and say, ‘Hey coach, congrats,’ and they’re cheering for the kids.”

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Lewisville city council member TJ Gilmore was among those at a packed pep rally Thursday in which the softball team rode in on firetrucks. Principal Jeffrey Kajs has attended nearly every playoff game and said numerous teachers and employees from the school district traveled to Abilene for the regional semifinals. There’s a sign outside a local Chick-fil-A wishing the team good luck. And last week, Lewisville’s games drew standing room only crowds that overflowed into a hill behind the outfield.

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How quickly things can change. Last year, Lewisville was 11-19 and missed the playoffs, and senior pitcher Chloe Campise said the team’s fans consisted more of “family and close friends, not as much student-body support.”

At 6 p.m. Friday, Lewisville (29-13) will play San Benito (34-2) in a Class 5A state semifinal at the University of Texas’ Red & Charline McCombs Field in Austin. It’s the first time since 1999 that a Lewisville team in any sport has made it to a state tournament.

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“This is a new experience for all of us,” said junior outfielder Miranda Worthington, who leads the team with 10 home runs. “We weren’t exactly much to look at last year.

“We had people who believed in us beforehand, but as time went on, we started getting more and more [fans]. Now we have more than we ever dreamed of.”

The girls soccer squad in 1999 was the last team from Lewisville to qualify for a state tournament. That was the same year as the opening of Flower Mound and Hebron — the newest of the Lewisville ISD’s five high schools.

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“You get a five- to seven-year period where there are growing pains for the schools losing kids and the school trying to get up and running,” Lewisville ISD athletic director Randy Mayes said. “Then it calms down and becomes very competitive.”

While Mayes said “all five high schools are treated equally” and the LISD “gives kids every opportunity to compete at the highest level,” Lewisville hasn’t enjoyed the same athletic success as its rivals.

With an enrollment of 3,678, Lewisville has over 500 more students than any other high school in the LISD. But since winning state in football in 1996, the Fighting Farmers haven’t won a team state championship. Meanwhile, fellow LISD schools Flower Mound Marcus (nine), Hebron (three) and The Colony (one) combined for 13 team state titles from 1996 to 2012.

This is the first time Lewisville has made the softball playoffs since 2007, but it has had the misfortune of playing in tough districts. A team from Lewisville’s district reached the state tournament four of the previous six seasons — including Marcus in 2007 and Hebron in 2010. Those two schools also made regional finals in that span.

This year, Lewisville finished fourth in the talent-rich District 5-5A. But facing some of the state’s best teams on a regular basis paid off when the Fighting Farmers got to the playoffs, as they were already accustomed to elite competition. They beat district rival Marcus in a three-game regional final to earn the softball program’s first state tournament berth.

“The competition we have in the D-FW area is absolutely crazy,” Campise said.

Just like the fan support Lewisville is now receiving.