Rough season bonds Lady Marlins
BY CASSIE TURANO SOUTH JETTY INTERN

Safe at second STAFF PHOTO BY STEPHANIE KENIGSBERG Elaine Franco of the Port Aransas High School Lady Marlins is safe at second base during a game at Runge on Friday, March 23.

"We fought hard, but came up short in the end," junior Taylor Young said of her fellow Lady Marlins at the softball game Monday, March 26. Port Aransas lost to Corpus Christi Academy, 2-1.

The girls, while disappointed with their wins-to-losses ratio over the last couple of weeks, are as determined as ever to turn their season around.

"We would definitely much rather be winning right now, but each loss only makes us work harder for the next game," Young said.

It's hard to find a harder working group of girls than those on the softball field for two hours every day when they don't have a game scheduled. Practices consist of batting, working on defensive skills, and practicing stealing and running the bases.

"And running. Lots of running," senior Katy Bridges said.

Though their season is not off to the start they had imagined, the Lady Marlins remain a positive and closelyknit bunch.

"When you practice as hard as we do together, and then come up short like we have been in games, you tend to bond together," Bridges said.

This bond is exhibited at every game. The girls recite about 15 or so different cheers and chants as a team to pump each other up before the game, before each player goes up to bat, and while the team is in the outfield. Some incorporate the players ' names into the cheers and others consist of banging on the ceiling of the dugout.

"They [the chants] really pump you up when you're bat," Young said. "And it's fun to watch how they intimidate the other team."