3-for-3: Local softball organization takes home World Series Championship Trophies

This past Saturday, the local Farm System Prospects, a travel softball organization, had three championship games at the Panama City Beach World Series tournament — and won all of them. 

The 8u, 10u and 12u teams took home championship trophies this past weekend, with several games testing their resilience along the way. 

Having two losses earlier in the week prior to bracket play, the 8u players were feeling kind of down, said coach Brock Landry. But thanks to coach Gabrielle Lemaire, they got that spark they needed. 

“They call her ‘mama bear,’” Landry said. “She got them motivated, got them pumped up and got them on the right track going into bracket play.” 

Lemaire said what’s most important for the team before every game and practice is prayer, thanking God for bringing them together. “And we just ask God to fill their minds and bodies with the Holy Spirit and confidence to go out there and just play free and have fun,” she continued. 

She just tries to get the players fired up after the prayer, Lemaire said, and doesn’t ask them to be perfect — just always give 100 percent effort, “and everything else will fall into place.” 

The 8u Prospects certainly caught fire heading into bracket play, winning their first game 11-0. The next game was more of a nail-biter, stealing a win with just one run. Then Friday, they played another Prospects team that was from Kentucky, and beat them 9-0, giving up no runs the first three games of bracket play. 

For the championship on Saturday, they had a match with a Texas Xtreme, who they faced before and came out blazing for the rematch, scoring three runs in the first inning. 

After chasing them for the first few innings, the Prospects scored a few runs and hit a grand slam in the fourth inning that gave them the lead. The Texas team was able to score some more, but the Prospects held them off and brought home some more runners to seal the victory 12-8. 

Landry said the players have made great strides since they began winter ball last year, slowly getting better and doing the extra work to become the champions they now are. 

“They never really played the game at this level before, so they weren’t really sure what to do,” he recalled. “…To see these kids try out to where they are now — it’s unbelievable.” 

“Words can’t describe how proud we all are of them, just for the growth in softball, but yet alone as little girls and individuals.” Lemaire said. “They’ve grown so much strength in their mind to overcome.” 

The 10u team went undefeated in pool play, and breezed through the bracket, with the closest game coming just before the championship, beating a Tennessee team 3-1 in a pitcher’s duel. 

For the six-inning championship game, the Prospects led the game 2-0 until the top of the sixth, when the opposing team scored three runs to take a one-score lead. 

But the Prospects didn’t falter. They loaded up the bases in the bottom of the sixth, scored on a ground ball and later scored a run off a single that bounced off the pitcher’s glove to win 4-2.  

“It was great,” said coach Scott Baudoin on the championship win. “It was their first season together… It was a really good feeling playing against good teams and coming out on top with a younger team.”

Similar to the 10u team, after going undefeated in pool play, the 12u team pretty much rolled through bracket play leading up the championship, winning the first four games with a combined score of 33-8. 

The Prospects led the game 2-0 for most of the game, but then the Kentucky team, who lost to them before but made it through the loser’s bracket, came back to tie it in the fifth inning. However, the Prospects were able to rally back in the top of the sixth inning, putting up three more runs to go up 5-2. They ended up winning the game 6-3. 

“We just had to work through the adversity; we’ve been there before,” said Baudoin, who also coaches the 12u team. “We just had to fight through.”

Baudoin said he’s been coaching most of the players on the 12u team for about four or five years now. He added: “Just the maturity of these kids and they’ve grown over this past year has been great.”