Truth be known, Stacy Swinea’s 502nd career softball victory may have been more meaningful than her 500th.
The veteran Davidson Academy coach reached the milestone in the first game of a Monday doubleheader against St. Andrew’s-Sewanee and was recognized in a ceremony prior to the Lady Bears’ Division II-A region game Tuesday against visiting Ezell-Harding.
Catcher Savannah Peek hit a solo home run in the opening inning and Davidson managed to scratch out runs in the fifth and sixth innings while Savannah Hill limited the Lady Eagles to four hits and struck out seven in a 3-1 win.
“They’re our biggest rival, always have been,” Swinea said after her team improved to 24-6 (8-0 in DII-A region play). “When I first started coaching, I tried to mirror them. I wanted us to be like Ezell-Harding one day. I wanted us to be that successful.”
When Swinea took over the Davidson program in 1994, Don Freudenthal was in the process of leading his program to its fifth consecutive state championship, its sixth in seven years. Ezell-Harding would go on to another six over seven seasons – setting a state record for softball titles – and Freudenthal now has posted 748 career victories.
“Don’s a great coach,” Swinea said “He’s been a mentor to me. His was the program everybody wanted to be like. We’ve always been good friends – but it’s always nice to beat him.”
Davidson has managed to deal Ezell-Harding (19-11, 5-2) a pair of losses this season.
“I don’t know how she does it, but she gets her team up for big games better than anybody I know,” Freudenthal said.
And with six seniors and four juniors – including Lee University signees Holly Hockaday and Liz Stevens – the big games may be just getting started for Davidson.
“To be 24-6 with what we’ve dealt with, we’ve not let things outside of softball get to us,” said Swinea, referring to a couple of tragic deaths of a student and of a former softball parent as well as some team injuries.
“This could be our year.”
