DRY FORK — Even though they are quite a few years apart, members of the Halifax County softball team have something in common with the American vocal group Sister Sledge: they are family.
That bond has been on display all season, including during the Comets’ Piedmont District Tournament championship game against Mecklenburg County Friday evening.
No. 1 Halifax used its bond and explosive bats to strike early and often in its 10-2 win over No. 2 Mecklenburg County to earn its third consecutive Piedmont District Tournament title.
Halifax (21-3) awaits its seeding for the Region 4D playoffs which begin next Thursday.
“Working hard at practice and the team chemistry,” said senior Jadyn Harlow when asked the secret behind the Comets’ run. “We all started together in middle school and we’ve all played throughout high school and I think the chemistry helps us bond out on the field and get hype and that helps us feed into the game and we get the win.”
Senior Kamyria Woody-Giggetts added, “Everybody knows each other’s weaknesses and strengths so we can learn off of that and we can go out and be champions.”
Senior Destiny Talbott concluded, “Having each other’s backs, pushing one another to be the best we can be, having bonds on and off the field.”
It’s that bond that’s helped Halifax to its run of success.
“After every game and practice we go, ‘Comets, 1,2,3, family, 4,5,6, that’s how we end it every day and if we don’t, it doesn’t feel right,” Harlow said. “I think we’ve become sisters and helped each other grow, we’ve picked each other up. There’s a lot of strengths we have as an entire team that helps us when it comes down to games like this.”
“Halifax softball really just is family,” Woody-Giggetts said. “Everybody has been on the field together, playing in the dirt since we were four or five years old.”
Senior Jaci Parham added, “We’ve always had each other’s backs, no matter what the circumstances are, any situation, we’re always there.”
Senior Shamya Hankins concluded, “We fight for each other, we know how to fight for each other, we know how to lift each other up, have each other’s backs.”
No matter how far the Comets go in the postseason, the ride will come to an end in a few weeks for Hankins, Parham, Woody-Giggetts, Harlow and Talbott. Looking back on their time together and the bonds they’ve made makes all four feel quite special.
“I wouldn’t trade it for the world, I love the girls I grew up with, they’ve made me a better person, a better ballplayer, on and off the field and I love these girls,” Talbott said.
“As I’ve grown and gotten to know them, they are really good people, they are there to help each other,” Harlow added. “They aren’t going to bring you down if things are wrong. If you do something bad, they are going to pick you up from it and I think that’s made me open my eyes to the fact this is a family and this is what family does. They help you when you’re down, when you’re at your lowest, they’re there.”
Parham added, “This year has been really memorable, it’s definitely been a good one, definitely going to cry a lot of tears when it’s done because they are my family and they’ve always been there for me. Always been there to help pick me up when I was down and I appreciate them.”
Like her fellow teammates, Hankins doesn’t take the bond for granted.
“The sisterhood, you don’t see it in a lot of teams, a lot of teams just deal with each other because they’re teammates but we actually get along on and off the field,” Hankins said.
Woody-Giggetts replied, “It’s just not the players, it’s the coaches too. We call them mom and dad and it’s a big family. We look at our coaches as family, as ones that raised us, not just coaches.”
Talbott concluded, “We’re allowed to come out on the field and play freely and be ourselves without getting judged about it and the coaches have played a huge role in our lives to make sure we’re great on and off the field and they care about us just as much in school and in life as they do on the field and that’s a great thing to have.”
A tight game throughout, the Comets broke open the game with a five-run bottom of the sixth inning. An error on Woody-Giggetts single to center field scored sophomores Hannah Ellixson, Olivia Semaster and Avarie Bowen and gave Halifax a six-run lead. Junior Emma Payne kept the rallying going with her RBI groundout and Hankins followed with a double to center that scored Emma Shepperd to make it a 10-2 contest.
Payne turned in another solid performance in the circle, scattering three hits and giving up two runs – one earned – while striking out three in seven innings pitched. Payne also helped her cause with a game-high three RBIs.
Hankins drove in two RBIs while Harlow, Woody-Giggetts and junior Abby Duffer recorded an RBI each. Hankins and Woody-Giggetts paced the Comets with three hits apiece while Harlow and Bowen added two each.
Halifax drew first blood, scoring a run in the bottom of the first inning on Duffer’s sacrifice bunt back to the pitcher. Senior Ruby Hite knotted the score in the second when she scored on a wild pitch.
Payne put the Comets back in front with her two-run double to center in the third that made it 3-1. Hankins’ lead-off home run to left in the fourth gave Halifax a three-run contest.
The Phoenix got a run back in the fifth on junior Alex Love’s sacrifice fly to center but the Comets answered back with a run of their own in the bottom half on an RBI double to center that plated Duffer.
