“I’m very excited,” he said. “I’ve watched from the other side of the fence for many years. To get the opportunity, I’m very grateful.”
Toolan described himself as an old school coach that believes in the bare basics.
“I’m an older coach,” he said. “I’ve coached a lot of travel ball and I’ve brought that mentality here. It’s work hard and there is never a day off.
“And you get what you put into it. I think the kids have bought into it just play simple, basic ball. It’s nothing flashy, just go out and do the right thing in all we do.”
Toolan believes softball is hard enough and that’s why he stresses keeping the game as basic and as simple as possible.
“I believe if you do it the right way,” he said. “You play hard and simplify the game. The game is hard enough within itself and we all know that.”
Toolan does his best to get the players in the best position in practice and to create as much of game-type feel as possible. He stresses that the game is a game of failure and players are to hold their heads and shoulders even in failure.
“Like I tell the girls, if you go one for three every night, most of the time you are going to win, as a group,” he said. “A team hitting .350 you ain’t going to lose many, as a team.”
The Lady Gators should be strong in the infield with senior Jena Fedorak anchoring first base. Sophomore Mylee Frazier will be at second base and Addie St. John, another sophomore will be at third base.
Baker picked up a key transfer from Laurel Hill in pitcher Hannah Twitty. Twitty has already signed with Bishop State College in Mobile, Ala., and could be a missing piece to the championship puzzle.
Twitty won’t have to carry the load in the circle by herself as Victoria Beckworth is a longtime senior starting pitch for Baker. A young arm to watch is eighth grader Emily Whiddon.
Whiddon is projected to be the starting shortstop replacing Jolee Sloan who graduated last year.
Carlie Hopps, a senior, will be in center field. She’ll be flanked by fellow seniors Blakely York and Karsyn Crinklaw, giving Baker one of the best outfields in the area.
Wilde sees a work ethic and toughness in the Lady Gators that might lead to a special season.
“I hate to put him on the line, but I think we’re going to go far,” he said. “I think we’ll go far.”
Baker picked up a key transfer from Laurel Hill in pitcher Hannah Twitty. Twitty has already signed with Bishop State College in Mobile, Ala., and could be a missing piece to the championship puzzle.
Twitty won’t have to carry the load in the circle by herself as Victoria Beckworth is a longtime senior starting pitch for Baker. A young arm to watch is eighth grader Emily Whiddon.
Whiddon is projected to be the starting shortstop replacing Jolee Sloan who graduated last year.
Carlie Hopps, a senior, will be in center field. She’ll be flanked by fellow seniors Blakely York and Karsyn Crinklaw, giving Baker one of the best outfields in the area.
Wilde sees a work ethic and toughness in the Lady Gators that might lead to a special season.
“I hate to put him on the line, but I think we’re going to go far,” he said. “I think we’ll go far.”
The Lady Gators should be strong in the infield with senior Jena Fedorak anchoring first base. Sophomore Mylee Frazier will be at second base and Addie St. John, another sophomore will be at third base.
Baker picked up a key transfer from Laurel Hill in pitcher Hannah Twitty. Twitty has already signed with Bishop State College in Mobile, Ala., and could be a missing piece to the championship puzzle.
Twitty won’t have to carry the load in the circle by herself as Victoria Beckworth is a longtime senior starting pitch for Baker. A young arm to watch is eighth grader Emily Whiddon.
Whiddon is projected to be the starting shortstop replacing Jolee Sloan who graduated last year.
Carlie Hopps, a senior, will be in center field. She’ll be flanked by fellow seniors Blakely York and Karsyn Crinklaw, giving Baker one of the best outfields in the area.
Wilde sees a work ethic and toughness in the Lady Gators that might lead to a special season.
“I hate to put him on the line, but I think we’re going to go far,” he said. “I think we’ll go far.”
“Thank you for honoring me with this scholarship in memory of Whitney,” Carroll expressed to the Langley family. “My goal is to attend LBW (Lurleen B. Wallace in Andalusia, Ala.) in pursuit of an AA (Associates of Arts) degree and then transfer to a four-year school to finish with a business major. With my love for softball, I intend to use it to keep me motivated and stay engaged in my classes.”
The Langley family doesn’t hold any lavish fundraisers to finance the scholarship. Early each summer since 2007, the family quietly writes a check for $500 to the recipient of the scholarship who is chosen by the Lady Bulldog coaching staff. Carroll is the 15th recipient of the scholarship.
“We (the family) don’t make that selection,” Marge Langley, Whitney’s mother said. “We totally trust the coach and the teammates to decide who the hard-working, most dedicated team player is. They select it and always give us a name.”
Alex Carroll, the winner of the 2023 Whitney Megan Langley Memorial Scholarship scores against Washington.
Marge said that it was important for her as a mother to somehow keep Whitney’s legacy alive. Former Crestview teacher Kelly Hayes suggested the scholarship to in honor of Whitney.
There is a small memorial garden and a plaque honoring Whitney just outside the third base dugout.
The most important thing is to keep Whitney’s memory alive,” Marge said. “But what stands out in my mind, is I’m so appreciative of the commitment and the love that was shown to us during that was shown to us (the family) during that time in our lives (following Whitney’s death). We continue to have that and that legacy is carried on.”
With the interim job comes the responsibility of running the summer program that included the youth softball camp. The camp was held May 30 and 31 and was, by all accounts, a success with more than 50 players in attendance.
“It’s been challenging,” he said. “They made a change in the program, and I couldn’t help but accept the role. I obviously have a daughter playing.
“They called me and asked me to run the summer program. I knew the plan already going in that coach Howard had put together pretty much. We just stepped in and did what was already planned and scheduled.”
Toolan said one of the biggest surprises has been the amount of work involved behind the scenes.
“There’s a lot of work that you don’t realize,” he said. “I’ve coached for a long time, but not this type of thing r like the camp, the kid’s camp. We had over 50 at the camp.
“Coach Howard started this in the spring, and we had about 27 and we grew over that, which is great. I think it’s a good thing.”
Players of all ages attended the camp.
“We had girls here from five to 14,” Toolan said. “We had girls at the camp that actually tried out (for the high school summer softball program). We had a real wide range (in ages) and we tried to split them up so we could be effective in teaching them.
“We had some great help. I really appreciate all the help we had from the new (softball) coach over at Davidson (Aaron Huffstutler). He came over to get use to the girls.”
Lady Bulldog faculty member and assistant coach Cedric Peterson also helped with the camp.
The gauntlet of softball basics were taught at the camp with pitching receiving a big emphasis.
“We tried to touch on everything, which obviously is a lot,” Toolan said. “We focused a lot on pitching. We tried to focus hitting too.
“Yesterday (May 30) was all defense, just the fundamentals of the game, teaching them the basics. I think the basics are getting missed a lot of times.”
Toolan will run the program throughout the summer until a head coach is announced.
The team will workout in the mornings throughout the summer and play doubleheaders on Tuesday nights during the month of June.
“I want to say this, coach Howard did start this summer program,” he said. “I feel like she gave me an opportunity to assist this year. I’m trying to step up and fulfill some of the things she was trying to do, her vision.
“But things change, and things go on. I’m here for one reason and that’s the girls in Crestview. I’m from here and it means a lot to me.”
The Lady Bulldogs are coming off their first appearance in the district championship game since 2005 and finished the season with a 12-12 record.
MaxPreps shows that Howard took over the program prior to the 2019 season.
When asked about the decision not to retain Howard, Bulldog athletic director Tim Hatten said the school decided to go in another direction with the softball program.
Anita Courington, the mother of Lady Bulldog second baseman Taylor Courington, said she was surprised to hear that Howard, who’s husband Matthew, was an assistant coach, wouldn’t be retained.
“It was very disappointing to hear,” Anita said. “I believe Michelle and Matthew are not only phenomenal coaches, but they are phenomenal people as well.
“I believe in the Howards because of what they have done for the program.”
Anita said she met with school administrators and also was told the school had decided to go another direction in softball.
Lady Bulldog coach Michelle Howard doesn’t know what she will do without Carroll behind the plate next year.
“Alex is irreplaceable,” Howard said. “That’s the one word I can use to describe her.
“We are going to be struggling to fill that spot (in 2024),” she added. “That’s going to be the hardest spot to fill.”
Carroll’s story about becoming a catcher didn’t start on a softball field.
“I used to play baseball with the boys,” she said. “They needed somebody with an arm at catcher and I just sort of went there.”
The catcher is the only player on defense that has the entire field in front of them, making them the equivalent of the softball/baseball quarterback as they make sure everyone is in the right place.
Carroll said being in control of the game is her favorite part of catching. The thing she finds as the most difficult about of the position is the thing catchers have expressed as long as they have taken a position behind the plate, knees that hurt and a body that feels as if it’s falling apart.
Carroll, who will continue her softball career at Lurleen B. Wallace Community College in Andalusia, Alabama, becomes reflective as she comes to grips with the end of her high school softball career.
“I feel pretty sad,” she said. “I have a lot of memories here with the girls. They are the same girls I’ve been playing with since the sixth grade, so that’s pretty cool.
“I just want to be remembered as someone that gave 110% every game,” Carroll added.
The Lady Bulldogs finished the season strong and that gives Carroll hope that Crestview’s softball future is bright.
The relationship between Carroll and Howard has lasted longer than the typical four years of high school. Howard first started coaching Carroll in travel ball.
“I’ve grown very close to Alex,” Howard said. “I feel like she’s one of my actual children. We just built that connection that a player and coach have.
“I’ve been coaching her since she was 11 years old,” she added. “It’s been a long time. It’s been a great time.”
Lady Bulldog catcher Alex Carroll started playing the position while playing baseball with boys because she had a strong arm.
As is the case in any lasting relationship, Howard and Carroll have experienced the full spectrum of being a part of, in this case, a softball family.
“We have had our falling outs,” Howard said. “We have loved each other. We have yelled and screamed at each other.”
It’s in going through the fires of the relationship that their bond has become gold.
Howard has watched Carroll grow from a young player making silly mistakes and errors to one she has complete confidence in behind the plate.
“I think Alex might know the game better than any 17-year old I’ve ever met,” Howard said. “She knows the game. She could call a game if I wanted her to, and she has.
“Alex will be behind the plate saying to me, ‘Taylor (Courington) at second needs to move over some.’ Or we need to shade somebody in the outfield,” she added. “She’s got it (a high softball IQ) and a lot of people don’t just have it.”
Howard sees nothing but good things for Carroll’s softball future.
“She’s matured so much the last four years, it just brings a smile to my face,” Howard said. “From the player she was as a freshman, to the player she is now, if she continues that path she’s going to do amazing things.
“If she keeps going down this path, she will get to play at a big school (after Wallace),” she added. “She is the most competitive human being I have ever met in my life.”
Sadly, for the Lady Bulldogs, it was their season that ended as they made their first appearance in a district championship game since 2005.
Niceville took the win 4-2.
The statistics tell the story of why Crestview struggled. The Lady Bulldogs had 13 base runners on seven hits, three walks, two hit batters and an Eagle error. Crestview only struck out four times in 34 plate appearances as well.
The Lady Bulldogs also left 10 runners on base, which includes two in the seventh and final inning.
“Tonight, we let it slip away,” Lady Bulldog coach Michelle Howard said. “I think we could have run away with this game, but it is what it is.”
Crestview finished the season with a 12-12 record, but that only tells part of the story. At one point the Lady Bulldogs were 7-10 but they got hot at the end of the season and had won five of their last six games heading into the championship game.
Howard saw something as the team finished strong.
“They came together, and they loved each other,” she said. “And, they loved spending time with each other.
“I think spending the entire day together on Tuesday (May 2), on the way to (Tallahassee) Chiles (for the district tournament opener), something clicked with them. I think they realized they could do this if they just played together.”
The Lady Eagles struck first, scoring a run in the bottom of the first inning off starting pitcher Julian Forrest.
Niceville struck for two more runs in the bottom of the third inning. When the first two batters reached on a hit and a walk, Forrest moved to right field was replaced in the circle by Cambell Toolan.
The base runners that reached against Forrest eventually came around to score.
Crestview picked up a run in the top of the fourth as Paige Dietz reached on an error and eventually scored as Riley Bowles grounded out.
Niceville responded with its final run of the game in the bottom of the inning, connecting on three hits off Toolan to plate a run.
The Lady Bulldogs loaded the bases in the top of the seventh inning, but only scored one run.
Bowles led off the inning with a base hit. Kiara Solar walked. A one-out hit by Irie Wolfgramm filled the bases with just one out.
A two-out walk to Alex Carroll scored Bowles, but that would be it for the Lady Bulldogs as the season came to an end.
Bowles led the Crestview attack with two hits and the run scored. Forrest had a double. Soler, Toolan and Brooklyn Garland also had hits to go along with Wolfgramm’s single in the seventh.
In years past a district runner up would be heading to the state playoffs. But that hasn’t been the case in Florida for years. District champions do advance to the playoffs, but the other teams must wait for seedings based on strength of schedule along with several other factors nobody seems to understand.
Although there is no reward for being the district runner-up, Howard believes playing for the championship could have a positive affect in the future.
“It’s been 20 years since they’ve (the Lady Bulldogs softball team) been here,” she said. “I think that if the girls can take this momentum and this high that we’re at and roll it into next year, the sky is the limit.”
The Lady Bulldogs are playing their best softball of the season having won four of their last five games. The momentum should help the team as it heads to Tallahassee on Tuesday to open District 2-6A play against Chiles. A win on Tuesday and Crestview returns to Okaloosa County on Thursday to play at Niceville for the championship.
“It (the win) feels really good and it definitely has built their mindset and confidence,” coach Michelle Howard said. “We killed it this week and it makes them feel good going to Chiles on Tuesday.
“I think they are thinking to themselves, ‘We can go to the district championship on Thursday.”
Freshmen pitchers Julian Forrest and Cambell Toolan continued to be impressive. Defensively, the Lady Bulldogs were rock solid committing just one meaningless error.
The Lady Bulldogs were aggressive at the plate and on the basepaths as well.
Crestview scored the only two runs it would need in the bottom of the second inning with a two-out rally.
Brooklyn Garland singled and moved to third on a base hit by Riley Bowles. Garland scored on a double steal in which Bowles headed for second and as the Chiefs attempted to throw her out, Garland raced home sliding under the tag for the first run of the game.
Kiara Soler singled and Toolan followed with a base hit to score Bowles.
The Lady Bulldogs picked up another run in the third inning.
Forrest led off the frame drawing a walk. Courtesy runner Paige Izquierdo took over on the bases for Forrest, Crestview’s pitcher.
Izquierdo moved to second on a wild pitch and later scored as Paige Criddle was safe at first on a fielder’s choice.
The Lady Bulldogs put the game out of reach with two runs in the fifth inning.
Irie Wolfgramm delivered a one-out single. Forrest was then hit by a pitch.
Alex Carroll singled to score Wolfgramm. With two outs, Criddle scored Izquierdo to close out the scoring.
Northview’s lone run came in the top of the third inning on a leadoff homer.
“We, as a coaching staff, thought that the team played great all around,” Howard said. “We had the one error. But defensively, we were clean.
“Our pitchers looked good. We had some good at bats and we had some bad at bats. But we had clutch at bats and that’s all it matters.”
Hopps is everything a coach looks for in an elite outfielder. She has great speed, sure hands and a powerful arm.
She’s also a dangerous hitter capable of driving the ball into the gap or reaching base with a well-placed bunt.
“She plays Gold Glove-caliber defense in centerfield,” Carlisle said. “The running joke is center field is where the ball goes to die in practice. She does a great job covering the gaps.
“And she’s got a great arm,” he added. “She has three assists (throwing out base runners).”
Hopps, a junior, played T-ball when she was younger, but it’s only been in the last several years that softball has become her passion. She started playing seriously in the sixth or seventh grade and has been committed to the game ever since.
This is her second year at Baker as her family moved to the area from Maryland. Softball helped her transition to the new school, which is one of the things she most enjoys about the game.
“I like making new friends and getting better,” Hopps said. “I didn’t have friends for the first six months I was here because I’m so shy. I’m not going to throw myself out there to talk to people.
“I think it can be a good part for me just seeing what I can learn from everyone,” she added. “Once people started talking to me it was a good transition.”
It was Hopps who scored the winning run in Baker’s 7-6 extra innings win over Northview on April 11.
She started things off with a bunt single and scored on Mylee Frazier’s two-out single.
“I knew I had to get (the bunt) down and I couldn’t show it early,” Hopps said. “The element of surprise was important, so I knew I had to show it late so I could beat it out.
“Running home, I saw all my teammates with their hands up (in victory),” she added. “It was a really special moment.”
Hopps usually bats higher in the order for Baker than she did against Northview. Carlisle played a hunch and it paid off with the win.
”She’s multifaceted,” Carlisle said. “She’s been batting in the number two hole for us. When I put her down in the order it wasn’t a reflection on her, but an attempt to break things up and give us more production down in the order.”
Hopps will continue her softball career beyond her graduation from Baker School next spring. She already has committed to play at Lurleen B. Wallace Community College in Andalusia, Alabama.
Hopps will continue to work on her swing and getting stronger. There’s no doubt her work will include improving on defense as well.
When she finishes playing, she will trade the bat and glove for a career of helping others.
“I want to be a social worker,” she said. “I want to help little kids.”
York was born in Northwest Florida and has never lived in Tennessee, but her family still has a home in Fentress County, Tennessee, the home of Alvin York, and they visit the area a couple of times of year.
She enjoys being a distant relative of the war hero.
“It’s actually pretty cool because we were just learning about him in history class,” she said. “Everybody was like, ‘Wait, you’ve got the same last name.’
“I was like, ‘Yep, we have the movie and the (Alvin York) action figure in the house. That’s my family.”
If she lived in Fentress County, Tennessee, Blakely York would probably be a Lady Dragon playing softball at York Institute.
Baker coach John Carlisle is just happy she’s a Lady Gator.
“Blakely is a unique kind of person,” he said. “She reminds me of myself in some aspects, you know, just constantly talking to people telling them, ‘This is where you’ve got to be. Watch out for this.’
“That is where I’m at and this is just a constant talk back and forth,” Carlisle added. “It’s like having another coach on the field.”
York has been a part of Baker School all of her life with the exception of her freshman year. Her family moved to Fort Walton Beach for a year before returning to the north end of the county.
She has played softball since she was 4 years old.
York suffered a serious concussion after being hit in the face with a softball bat while at Fort Walton Beach. The concussion sidelined her for nine months as she underwent concussion physical therapy. Concussion physical therapy is rare and she had to go across the state to get the help she needed.
Rather than pout about her misfortune, York looks at the positive aspect of things.
“(The concussion) hurt my head, it hurt my eyes,” she said. “I ended up having to go to a traumatic brain injury neurologist at Shands in Gainesville. It’s definitely been a block in the road, but overcoming it’s been great meeting new friends and finding me things to love.”
York’s hitting has suffered because of the concussion as she has trouble tracking the ball in the short distance from the pitcher circle to home plate.
York enjoys swinging the bat, but she prefers playing defense. Her best memory of her softball career is a defensive play she made last season.
“I definitely like being out in the field,” she said. “Last year I robbed someone of a home run (going up over the fence to make the catch). There’s just something about making those ESPN (highlight) plays in the outfield.
“It’s 100% better to rob someone of a home run than to hit one.”
At one time York hoped to play college softball, but the concussion has changed that plan. She now plans on going to cosmetology school and excelling in her career as she has in softball.
Carlisle isn’t ready to close the book on York. He has high expectations for her the remainder of this year and moving into her senior season next spring.
“She’s worked her way back to about where she was before the concussion,” he said. “She is still working on things. She has made good progress and is trending upwards.”
