Tradition is returning to Davenport softball.
The once-proud program has won 24 state championships in softball, but hasn’t played in a state tournament in a decade.
That script changes Wednesday afternoon, when a group of black-clad scrappers with five freshmen in the starting lineup take the field at Firelake to play the Red Oak Eagles in the Class A state tournament.
In softball, Red Oak is what Davenport used to be, and what the Lady Bulldogs want to be again.
They are the defending Class 2A slowpitch state champions and have won eight slow- and fastpitch championships in the 10 years that Davenport has been on the outside of the state tournament looking in.
Red Oak could be a looking- glass portal to the future for the young Lady Bulldogs, who are buying into what is necessary to become champions, their coach said.
“I’m trying to get in their heads that that needs to become the tradition again and needs to become the new culture,” said Davenport coach Heather Gaylord.
“I think it was forgotten and needs to be remembered again.
“The work ethic needs to come back and the standard needs to be set.”
Gaylord has deep roots in Davenport softball traditions. She won five state championships as a player and four more as a coach.
She was the head coach from 2004 to 2010, but stepped aside to raise her family, returning last year as the head coach.
The program she took over was not the same one she left.
“We got to being ok with being average, and I’m not ok with being average.”
The Lady Bulldogs will go into the Wednesday game with a 20-14 record, but have won seven of their last eight games, including two mustwins in the regional after losing the opener to Roff, 6-5.
The regional was a microcosm of the Lady Bulldogs’ season.
In the three regional games, they had 42 hits, all but five of them singles.
That’s just how they jam - one base at a time. In 34 games, they have exactly one over-the-fence home run. A lot of teams at the state tournament will hit more than that in an inning.
“Our players are not power hitters,” Gaylord said. “They just aren’t.
“They’re base hitters. Our motto, especially here toward the end, has been ‘60 feet at a time.’
“And the girls have really wrapped their heads around that. Instead of trying to be power hitters, which just makes them pop up and hit a bunch of fly balls, they have started hitting line drives and hard ground balls and just accepting the motto of 60 feet at a time.
“60 feet at a time eventually gets a score, gets a run, and runs equal wins.”
In the regional, the girls took turns in the hitting spotlight.
In the loss to Roff, Gabby Murfin was 3-for-4.
Against Kremlin-Hilldale, Charlie Adams, Briley Hauk, Caden Blair and Autumn Gaylord had two hits each and Blair drove in three runs.
Against Kiowa, Nevah Ray went 3-for-4 with four RBI and was Murfin was back with another three-hit game to go 7-for-11 for the tournament.
Along the way, steady senior Landry Miller was 5-for-11.
The Lady Bulldogs will take on Red Oak at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday at Firelake.
The winner will play the winner of the Binger-Stuart game at 5:30, and the winner of that game will play for the stare championship at 7 p.m.
While Davenport is restarting its tradition, the Dale Lady Pirates took the field Tuesday looking to win their eighth slow pitch state championship and second in a row.
The DLPs are 35-4 and have spent the season ranked No. 1 in Class 4A.
They drew Coalgate in the first round and played at 10 a.m.