Sound Advice in Softball, Too: Listen to Your Parents

At softball games, the intimate environment often allows parents to talk to their children while they are on the bench or just before they step into the batter's box.

Stagg sophomore outfielder Joey Crockett's father was talking to her from his seat as she leaned over the dugout rail to watch the proceedings during the Chargers' 9-4 victory over Lincoln-Way West on Thursday.

"Are they going to (let you hit)?" he asked of his daughter.

"Yeah, I think so," she said.

"Are you going to get a triple today?" he said.

"We'll see," she said.

The first half of the conversation came through when Crockett entered the game as an offensive replacement for fellow left fielder Tatiana Sawosko, as she often does.

"They make that switch quite frequently," Stagg coach Missy Mason said. "Joey (Crockett) is swinging a hot bat right now, and 'T' is better on the defensive side."

In her first at-bat, Crockett singled in the fourth, but she was left stranded at third. Her second? With two outs and a runner at first, she hit a frozen rope that rolled to the fence in left field.

Crockett had two bases easily, but wound up motoring her way into third standing up just steps ahead of the throw. She had her triple, drove in a run and eventually scored herself in a four-run fifth for the Chargers (21-1, 9-1).

"The last few games, I haven't been doing so well," she said. "I wanted to pick it up. That's what we do as a team is pick each other up, and I guess today was my day."

Stagg continues to have someone new step up and add to an amazing season-long run. No wonder the Chargers sit on top of the Southwest Suburban Red. Mason said Crockett is "a good kid" and good things happen to good kids, right?