Bryan Station softball team chooses family over failure after fire

To realize how big Tuesday's 14-1 Bryan Station softball victory over Bath County was, one has to know where the Defenders have been.

At 10-13, Bryan Station has won more games this season than it had in the previous two campaigns combined. Bryan Station finished 3-12 in 2013, 4-23 last year.

The double-digit wins have come despite some chaos.

In November, the Bryan Station press box and concession stand was gutted by fire.

"We lost our uniforms," Coach Hector Urbaneja said. "We lost all our equipment. We lost all our concession stuff. We lost everything."

Kentucky State University, whose green-and-gold color scheme matches Bryan Station, donated some equipment and uniforms.

"That helped a lot," Urbaneja said. "And our administration has been here to support us, too. Has helped with everything. Everything they can do to help us, they have. So we have got help from a lot of people. A lot of people have been nice to us."

Urbaneja wasn't named head coach until about two weeks before the season. He was just getting to know his squad when the first game rolled around.

Distractions abounded.

"Yeah, kind of," junior pitcher Markiara Smith said, "but we've got to work through it and not focus on it so much while we're playing. ... When we got on the field, it's just about the game."

And it's also about something else, Urbaneja said.

"It's all about the girls. They have come a long way," he said. "They have stayed together as a team even though everything looked bad for us. From the beginning, everything was a fight. Parents couldn't get along. Players couldn't get along. But finally we got it to the point we started winning, and they started believing in themselves ... so we found a way.

"Against tough teams like Tates Creek and Lexington Catholic. Those are good teams that we have defeated. ... People are talking about us now. They know we're not a joke anymore, that we're going to come here and compete and do our best."

More than a team, Bryan Station has become a family.

"We just play as a family, as one, instead of like being on each other all the time," Smith said. "We've been working our butts off trying to make ourselves known so we're not the team that 'oh, we can come out there and beat them, no problem.' We're giving people a run for their money."

Said Cheyenne Whited, a freshman third baseman: "It's all about being a team and being together as a group of girls. And I definitely love this group of girls more than anything. There can be problems anywhere else, and come out here and it's like 'hey, we're a family and we're going to win this game.' And we know we have a really good coaching staff this year who definitely made a difference and came out here and showed us what it's like to be a team."

The Defenders left no doubt about the outcome Tuesday, taking the game in five innings.

Shelby McLean, a sophomore, sparked a 12-run third inning by belting a grand slam.

"It was pretty good," McLean said. "I've been struggling so far the past few games, so it felt good to finally get a solid hit."

She said the feel around the team is much different than in the past two years.

"It's a lot different. It feels better out there," McLean said. "We feel like we're more of a team. We work together better."

With less than two weeks left in the regular season, Bryan Station has a tough assignment coming up in the 42nd District tournament.

"We pretty much are going to be facing Henry Clay, and we're going to come out ready to battle," Urbaneja said. "We're not going to quit."

This story was originally published May 5, 2015 at 10:36 PM with the headline "Bryan Station softball team chooses family over failure after fire ."