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Eleven LaGrange High seniors are looking to go out with a bang. These eleven seniors — Addyson Arnett, Tatiana Dudley, Kaylee Foster, Carolyne Garcia, Abby McGill, Tatum Nation, Taylor Nation, Jasia Swanson, Kassidy Stewart, Zoe Thompson and Hudson Wood have poured their blood, sweat and tears into the LaGrange softball team over the last several years and are looking to make history this week as they hunt for the first state championship in program history. 

The Grangers are hungry for a state championship, but will not see this season as a failure if the team comes up short. The team has come so far this season, on and off the diamond, to punch their ticket to the Elite Eight in Columbus. 

“We play our best softball when we’re loose, and it just wasn’t God’s plan for us to win the second game,” Wood said, “I think that it was honestly better, because we went out there fired up for another game. We got better when we played that third game.”

“Everybody had a little nerves going up there, but not a lot,” McGill added. “We knew that Friday could be our last game, but we knew that we gave it our all and played to the best of our abilities.”

The quest for Columbus truly started last year for this version of the Grangers. The team had just one senior last season and returned their entire starting lineup this year. The expectations from inside and outside the dugout were high.

“The bar was set for us our freshman year,” Garcia said. “Ever since then we said we are going to make it senior year, and that is the year, because there is no more next year. It’s now or never.”

These eleven seniors helped make this journey possible, but it has not always been sunshine and roses. Previous incarnations of the Grangers would get down on themselves and let one misfortune bring another. Not this year, according to Garcia. “We all have so much trust in everybody else on this team. In the past, if one of us messed up we would get down on ourselves, but now we pick each other up.”

If there was any time for the Grangers to be down, it was after their 11-1 thumping in game two of the Sweet 16 against North Hall. The Grangers rallied and won game three 4-3 in large part because of the resiliency and togetherness they have displayed in recent weeks.

“For the first time this season, we really played like we had something to lose because we did,” Wood said. 

Most of the girls have been playing softball together since travel ball or parks and rec ball with a few additions over the years. Addyson Arnett transferred in before her sophomore year and Jasia Swanson came to LaGrange High after her sophomore season. They are now two of the three starting outfielders on the team and have made a seamless adjustment.

“At first, it was really nerve wracking, because everybody’s here, they know each other. You don’t know what you’re coming into,” Arnett said. “You feel like you have to work a little harder, but you can really feel the love this team shares.”

It did not take Arnett long to embrace being a Granger and now her and Garcia are attached at the hip.

“I was a little more excited because I knew most of them so I knew they were good and I was excited to be joining a really good team,” Swanson, a Callaway transfer said. 

Stewart, who had no previous softball experience, tried out for the team as a junior and made the cut. 

“Coming in and never having played before, it took me sometime just seeing all of what happens and what’s going on,” Stewart said. 

Having the chance to compete for a state championship with your best friends is special. To do it with your family is something else entirely. The Grangers have two sets of senior relatives on the team with cousins Kaylee Foster and Abby McGill and twin sisters Tatum and Taylor Nation.

“Really we are each other’s biggest supporters even if we aggravate each other sometimes,” Tatum said.

The strength of having a family member on a team to push you in ways that nobody else can is something few experience. Foster knows that feeling firsthand and likely would not be a part of this playoff run without McGill.

“If I’m being honest, if I didn’t have her, my sophomore year. I don’t know if I’d be here on this team,” an emotional Foster said. “Going through injuries and rehab  was tough and she was always there when I was sitting on the bucket at practice. She was always my hype man.”

Taylor had to play second fiddle to her sister Tatum in the past as the latter has served as the starting catcher for the past three years. Not anymore, Taylor earned her varsity stripes last year and saw key at-bats in the playoffs so far this season.

“When I went up to the plate (in the Sweet 16) I wasn’t even thinking about making contact, I was thinking I would strikeout,” Taylor said laughing as her teammates let out gasps. “But I got up there and hit the ball and it was great.”

Taylor is the ultimate hype man on the team and keeps the dugout light even when things get tense. 

“She’s always the one that’s gonna come pick you up,” Garcia said.

Tatum interjected to add, “even when you don’t want her to,” as the team shared a laugh. 

“No matter what Taylor is going to come behind you with the most positive attitude,” Wood said. 

Every dugout needs a Taylor and the Grangers have there’s.

The dugout has not always been so light, especially as free and fun as it was last Friday during game three of the Sweet 16.

“Everybody from top to bottom was fired up,” Wood said. “Shelby and Kaylee were more up than I’ve ever seen them.”

The bond between the seniors and the entire team is tight. They are inseparable in and out of the dugout. On Tuesday, the team enjoyed a dinner together. On Wednesday, the team will share the diamond together once more and no matter if the Grangers get a fairy tale ending or a heartbreaking one, these seniors are bonded for life.