This season as the softball team walked onto the field and prepared to face off against their competitors, they had two clear goals: winning the game and making the TikTok. The varsity softball team ended the season with an overall record of 17-9 and a conference record of 11-3, which landed them third overall in conference rankings. The year was full of struggles, but with it came a number of highlights and records broken.
While standing at the mound at the East Forsyth Game for her junior season, pitcher Riley Potts broke the school’s four-year strikeout record of 341. This record had previously gone unbroken for 23 years. The team watched this star pitcher break another record during this season. She threw 16 strikeouts against Starmount High School, which put her as the leading record holder for strikeouts in a single game. This performance beats previous records by pitchers Olivia Boger against Central Davidson in 2017 and Amy Alexander against West Forsyth in 2005, who both managed 15 strikeouts in these match-ups. At the conclusion of the season, Potts ended up with 176 strikeouts this season which is now the record to beat, and Potts still has her senior year to do this.
This kind of athletic excellence only comes with a motivated person and unmatchable dedication. When asked, Potts had a clear answer on what her goal is and how she is getting there.
“I have always wanted to go to Big D1, one of the Power Five schools, for softball,” Potts said. “My dad has been someone willing to go with me to the field to pitch to help me get better. I have had a specific list of goals for softball during every week in season and out of season. Getting better these last couple of years and breaking records has helped me realize that I’m so close to reaching my goals. I’m determined to not let the little things get in the way.”
While Potts is working on achieving her goal of playing softball at the collegiate level, senior Ashley Bledsoe has already achieved this goal. Bledsoe is committed to play at Caldwell Community College next year. This is a huge milestone for any athlete, and focus is required on the softball field to get there. Music is the way Bledsoe shared she maintained that focus and blocked anything on the other side of the fence out.
Music is also the cause of many laughs on the team, which is shown by sophomore Jadyn Davis’s TikTok. In Matt Barker’s English II class, students complete a 12-week-long project called Genius Hour where the student will attempt to become an expert at something or just try something new. For her project, Davis started a TikTok where she mic’d up different players during practice to capture the genuine laughs the team shared or interviewed fans in the stadium with junior Carleigh Croom being a recurring co-host. This TikTok account garnered almost 100 followers and over 1,200 likes. One video even gained over 5,000 views, with that video being a recap of the state playoff game.
While this season was filled with shattering records, laughs, and TikToks, it also was built off struggles. In the 2023 season, the team had a solid defense, which was composed mainly of the then seniors. This led the team this year to have to troubleshoot how they were going to fill those holes on the field. The team overcame this hardship, and it led to a successful season. Sophomore Jadyn Davis who was on varsity last year acknowledged this struggle.
“I think that our team was able to overcome the struggle of filling the shoes of the seniors from last year defensively. The seniors from last year were most of our infield, and with them not being here this year, we had to make some unexpected changes with our defense this year. I think we were able to find a good rotation that worked defensively to pick up where we left off last year.”
The culture of the team is important and truly led to the success of Davie’s softball team. Junior Raelyn Lankford shared her thoughts early in the season on what harbors this excellent culture.
“I think that the energy that we bring to every game and that we bring to practice makes us stand out cause we just try to pump each other up and have fun.”
Along with breaking records, Davie softball had many all-conference players this year, which is a huge accomplishment. The players who make all-conference are decided by the coaches of the top two teams. This season, these players for Davie include senior Ashley Bledsoe, juniors Riley Potts, Carleigh Croom, and Raelyn Lankford, and sophomore Jadyn Davis.
