Debs team ready to show Muscle in softball Series

The post-season all-star squad goes to Muscle Shoals, Ala., today to battle 10 other clubs for the Dixie championship.

By GREG AUMAN

© St. Petersburg Times, published August 3, 2000

Technically, this year's Dixie League Hernando Debs softball team has played only three games together.

Like most post-season all-star squads, the Debs can point to a random teammate and chances are they've played more games against them this year than with them.

Just the same, coach Darin Dampier can't imagine a closer-knit club than the 12 girls he will take to Muscle Shoals, Ala., today to compete with 10 other teams at the Dixie World Series.

"The core group of girls have played together for six years now, and four or five have played on the same teams for eight years," said Dampier, whose daughter, Shauna, is a Debs catcher.

The way the players have stuck together stood out to Dampier during a team party Saturday, when players and parents watched a video of highlights from each summer's games.

Sister Sledge's "We Are Family" played in the background, and while the uniforms changed, and gloves and bats got bigger, the faces remained the same.

"All summer, it seems that one of them has had a bunch of the rest over for a sleepover," Dampier said. "They pretty much live together right now.

"If I call one of them, no lie, there's usually four others there with her," he said. "Sometimes, I can make three calls and get all of them."

The players even have World Series experience together, as eight of the 12 were members of last year's under-15 Belles team that won the World Series in Evans, Ga.

This week's tournament marks the end of a long season that started for most in early January, dozens of games and several teams ago.

In a year in which the county saw two high school squads advance to the state's regional finals, the Debs have an even number of players from Central and Hernando.

The six Bears players -- catcher Shauna Dampier, second baseman Riki Aulozzi, shortstop Lindsay Grey, third baseman Heather Krasniewski and outfielders Meghan Pagnam and Tracie Ploskonka -- started every game for Central last year.

Hernando's contingent includes four freshmen who were on the Leopards' varsity team this spring -- second baseman Kristi Langworthy, outfielder Nicole Young and pitchers Jessica Maggard and Carolyn Gant -- as well as two junior varsity members in outfielder Scottisha Stevens and first baseman Whitney Griffin.

"They've played for two of the best schools in the state," Dampier said. "Really, truthfully, there's not many teams around better than they are."

And while the dominant aces from the county's two high schools, Central's Jen Pape and Hernando's Chrissy Hartley, aren't part of the Debs, they've indirectly helped improve the team's confidence at the plate.

"After going up against pitchers like that this spring, there's no way they're going to be afraid going up to the plate at this tournament," Dampier said.

"I don't care how good the pitchers are, they won't be as tough as what they've already seen in this county."

Dampier said his club's strongest suits have been defense and running, backed up by a deep pitching staff.

At the World Series, with as many as six games in five days, pitchers can't throw more than 15 innings total. And if one goes for four innings or longer, she must rest the next game, making depth crucial.

"They're all going to see time," Dampier said.

He said Gant and Maggard have been on the mound the most, but that Aulozzi and Krasniewski will be counted upon as well.

The pitchers will have it easy, Dampier said, so long as the defense continues to play as consistently as it did when the Debs won the state tournament last month.

"Defensively, we're solid all the way around," he said. "We might be better on defense than Hernando or Central.

"As long as we can throw strikes, we can win on defense and baserunning," Dampier said. "I can't imagine a faster team out there, from 1 to 12. They get out on the bases and drive pitchers crazy."

The Debs will leave Brooksville this morning for Alabama, and their first game is scheduled for 11 a.m. Saturday. The opponent won't be determined until a coaches meeting Friday.

If the Debs can stay in the winner's bracket, they could play for the World Series title Tuesday or Wednesday night.

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