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Freshman Ciera Clark knocked in two home runs for the 'Hounds against Martin County on Tuesday, April 4th as the team and community celebrated Coach Roger Mathews 500th career victory, placing him second in Florida for wins by an active softball coach and in the top 1% nationally. |
April 5, 2017 – Fort Pierce, FL – When Lincoln Park Academy Head Softball Coach Roger Mathews arrived at Greyhound Field in the Lawnwood Sports Complex on Tuesday night he knew it was going to be special. But just how special this night would end up surprised even Mathews.
Although Mathews and his Lady Greyhounds were scheduled to take on an always strong Martin County Tigers team, the real story was the milestone that Mathews and Company reached right at the start of Spring Break – or so we thought.
Let’s set the stage.
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| Stand out 8th Grade Short Stop Layne Chesney got things started for the Greyhounds with a dinger over the fence in Centerfield in the first inning. |
Mathews is nothing short of a legend when it comes to coaching softball. In Florida, he is second, only behind Kathy Finnucan or Winter Park Trinity Prep, for wins by an active coach and third for all-time wins, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations.
Nationally Matthews is ranked 22nd of the 5,517active high school softball coaches putting him in the elite top 1%.
A diverse crowd of friends, former players, and school district employees, led by Troy Ingersoll the Chairman of the School Board and E. Wayne Gent the Superintendent for St. Lucie Public Schools were on hand to honor the man they don’t just call “coach”, but that they call “friend”.
LPA Athletic Director, Ms. Jill Cory, who coordinated the event, spoke of how she has known Mathews for 25-years, at first calling him a rival and now calling him a true friend.
Superintendent Gent reflected on how as a coach at Fort Pierce Central, he and others would marvel at achieving 100 wins and never thought that 500 wins were even possible, while School Principal Henry Sanabria spoke of the tough love that Mathews is famous for.
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Senior Madison Walsh puts the ball over the centerfield fence for the Greyhounds third home run of the first inning. |
And Ingersoll, who is also the youth minister at Westside Church where Mathews and wife Karen attend, spoke of how dedicated he is to the kids in St. Lucie County.
But, it is the people that Mathews has mentored over the past 29 seasons that bring a tear to his eye as he has watched them grow and start families of their own, some of who had made their way to Greyhound Field to pay tribute the ‘ol ball coach.
There was Taylor Strickland, a star pitcher for the Lady Greyhounds who led the team to the State Final Four a few years ago, Jennifer Pottorff a successful small business owner and assistant softball coach at John Carroll, Paul Langel a Captain in the St. Lucie County Fire District, college instructor and Mathews trusted assistant coach as well as many others, including much of the current John Carroll High School Softball Team.
So as this year’s Greyhound team made their way to Foundation Academy in Central Florida for a doubleheader on March 11th they knew that something special was about to happen. Coach was sitting on 498 wins and they desperately wanted to do whatever was needed to get him to 500.
Yet, they knew it would not be easy as they had defeated Foundation last year by the slimmest of margins. But this year’s team is a group of young up and coming student-athletes who are driven by success and have responded well to that tough love Principal Sanabria had spoken about.
So well in fact that the ladies tossed back to back 14-0 not hitters on that magical March day to help Mathews reach the milestone of 500 wins.
But now with Spring Break lasting a week and no home games scheduled until April 3rd the community and his players would have to wait to honor their coach.
And wait they did.
A lightning delay caused everything to be pushed back for over an hour and the first pitch didn’t come until well after 6:30.
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LPA Pitcher Catlin Comer gets all of this pitch in the second inning for the Lady Greyhounds fourth home run of the night. |
Sophomore pitcher Caitlyn Comer made quick work of the Tigers in the top of the first setting up the surprise that no one saw coming.
LPA’s first batter was eighth-grade standout shortstop Layne Chesney who patiently waited for “her pitch” knocking the big yellow ball over the Centerfield fence to the delight of the crowd, her teammates and especially Mathews who shouted “you see what happens when you wait on it”, from the third base coaches box.
Two batters later ninth grader Ciera Clark knocked in the first of her two home runs for the night prompting Langel to yell “BOOM” from the first base coaches box.
The next batter, Senior Maddison Walsh, then put a ball way over the fence in Centerfield, just as a bench player from Martin County was retrieving Clark’s dinger causing Mathews to say in disbelief “I’ve never seen anything like this in my 29 years of coaching”, while “BOOM, BOOM” could be heard from the first base side of the field.
In next frame “BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM” was heard as this time pitcher Comer connected for a home run.
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From Left: School Board Chir Troy Ingersoll, LPA Principal Henry Sanabria, Coach Roger Mathews and LPA Athletic Director Jill Cory |
And so, a night that was to be special for one reason turned into a night made special by a group of young ladies looking to give a true legend one of his best memories from a 29-year, 500 plus win coaching career!
