Former rivals prepare for National Tournament

By Dana Jones Correspondent
Published: August 6, 2008

FISHERSVILLE
For the Skyline 18-and-under softball team, Wednesday was just another day of practice. Fielding, hitting, gossiping, it’s all the same — just a normal group of girls, besides the fact that they are a state championship team on its way to compete in the 2008 National Invitational Tournament in Toms River, N.J. this weekend.
“These girls are all the best of their high schools,” said coach Rick Dotson. “They are all-district and all-region players.”
A major crisis for the team is fundraising. With the cost of gas and the fact that most hotels near the beach are overpriced, it’s been hard for the Skyline team to come up with the money needed for travel expenses.
“When it comes to fundraising it wasn’t the lack of trying,” Rick Dotson said. “By the time we started a lot of the baseball teams had already done it. A lot of people like to give to little kids too. The girls deserved more than they got.”
It is Rick Dotson’s eleventh year of coaching, working his way up through little league to travel teams, he knows how to pick a team — it’s getting them to show up that’s the problem.
“When they get this old it’s hard for everyone to be here, especially because of work,” Dotson said. “They are either in college or getting ready for college.”
It was the issue of missing players that caused problems for Skyline at the regional tournament. The effect of the two losses was still present on the players’ faces, especially since they were undefeated going into the tournament.
“When you go in undefeated you only expect the best, so it was definitely a disappointing feeling when I got that phone call,” Danielle Layman said about being absent at the regional tournament. “It’s not a commitment issue, it’s just that as we’ve gotten older we’ve all gotten jobs and the working environment is pulling everybody away. It was disappointing that I couldn’t contribute my efforts.”
Layman, 19, is the oldest on the team and will be returning to college in the fall.
“I feel like I have a bigger responsibility on the team as far as keeping everybody up and focused and having fun,” said Layman. “A lot is on my shoulders but everyone picks up the slack.”
Though the let down from regionals is still fresh in their minds, the girls of Skyline are determined to come out on top at the national tournament.
“I had some mediocre hitting at regionals so I want to improve on that, but the team didn’t really hit that well so I wasn’t the only one,” said left fielder Amanda Miller. “We need to play better together and toughen up our defense.”
All of the players have plans to improve on their hitting. It was Brittany Dotson though that came out and said what everyone was thinking.
“I just want to win. I want a national championship,” said Brittany Dotson.
Most would think that being the coaches daughter would add to an already pressurized situation, but that’s not how it is for Brittany Dotson.
“My dad has a positive effect on me. He directs me into the right way and fixes the problems that other coaches have caused,” Brittany Dotson said. “He’s been there for me since I was eight and he just wants to see me enjoying the sport.”
The chemistry on the Skyline team is like that of a team that’s been playing together for years, even though this is the first time that all of the girls have played on a single team together.
“We’ve known each other since we were young so we’re all familiar with each other,” said shortstop Sarah Toman. “It’s different from high school because you’re faced with different people that you haven’t seen every day. It’s neat because you’re enemies on the field but you learn how to work together as a team.”
Rick Dotson takes a laid back approach to coaching these girls.
“He’s a good coach but sometimes it can be negative that he’s so laid back, but then again you don’t want a coach that’s always yelling at you,” center fielder Sabrina Desper said.
“At this age you don’t have to coach the girls a lot, you just have to guide them,” said Rick Dotson.
A lot of the girls have goals on improving their skills and adjusting their attitudes, but for Rick Dotson it’s simple.
“I want to see these girls play the best that they can play,” Rick Dotson said. “If they do that then they will win the national championship,”