McIntosh Softball team made it to the second round of state this year with 25 wins. With a new coach on board this year, this was the third winning season for the softball team in the program’s history. With a new head coach this year, they made it to state again. Their new coach was Coach Dustin Fowler, a new teacher at McIntosh this year.

“So coming into this season, I was just trying to anticipate what we might have got to tryouts. I had a lot of great talent coming into the summer. They worked hard, bought into my system, and it showed the season with the success we had,” Fowler said. 

“I think Coach Fowler was a great addition to our team, and was a major part of how much we improved this year. He pushed us to be the best team we could be and always believed that we were the best team on the field,” Junior Braley Roop said, who has been on the varsity team for the last three years. 

The team had made it to state for the last few years, making it past the first round this year. With only 16 teams making it to the second round, it’s nicknamed the “Sweet 16.” 

“We actually made it to the Sweet 16, which was the first time, and quite a while that they made it this far, and it was just something that was special to them and myself to know that all the hard work was paying off,” Fowler said.

“Big 16 was a huge accomplishment. They performed very well and we as coaches and players wanted to do better, but [getting that far into the playoffs] started a transition that needs to be kept up,” Coach Nick Bellantoni said.

The team lost to Lassiter, ending their season on Oct. 24, with a loss of nine to three at Lassiter High School.

“I was a little disappointed with how far we made it in state this year. We were such a good team that definitely had a lot more fight in us than we ended with. I’m so proud of how far we came as a team, but I think we should’ve made it further than we did with all the work we put into the season,” Roop said.

Additional reporting gathered by Gabriel Adams