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Spartan softball ranked nation's best
The Broad Run Spartans are officially the top high school softball team in the nation.
The National Fastpitch Coaches Association and USA Today released their final ranking of high school softball teams in the United States on June 12, and the Spartans earned the coveted No. 1 spot for the 2008 season.
"It was definitely a surprise, but I'm excited for the girls,” said assistant coach Dave Morris, who has just completed his seventh season in the Broad Run softball program. “They've worked extremely hard to get into this position."
The Broad Run program finished No. 5 in 2007 in the same poll, despite posting a clean 29-0 mark while the four higher finishers had suffered at least one loss.
This year, the Spartans (28-0) had been ranked second in the weekly poll since the end of the regular season.
They have won 83 of the 84 games they've played since the start of the 2006 campaign. They did not allow an earned run all season, winning their second consecutive Group AA state title with a 4-0 victory June 7 against Tunstall.
Pitcher Caitlyn Delahaba, who ended the season and her high school career on a 17-game shutout streak, adds a national championship to her resume.
"For the seniors, it makes us feel like we accomplished everything we could have accomplished in high school,” Delahaba said, referring to fellow seniors Karla Powell, Michelle Clohan, Kaitlyn Tiplady and Ashley Kramer.
“Being first in the nation is something that can never be taken away from us."
Delahaba said she and Powell were on their way to design their state championship T-shirts when they received a mass text message from teammate Anna Blessing informing them of the No. 1 ranking.
The T-shirt designs were quickly modified to include mention of the Spartans' national achievement.
Broad Run coach Ed Steele admits to being surprised by the ranking.
"I never dreamed it possible to be chosen as the best in the entire United States," said the man who has coached three state championship softball squads at Broad Run. "What a great feeling it is -- the perfect end of two perfect seasons."
Steele related that since the poll's release, he has been stopped and congratulated in the halls of the Ashburn school by excited faculty and students, some of whom he had never met.
"This is an indication of how skilled these talented players are and how hard they practiced to improve those skills until they became unbeatable," Steele said. "Everyone who ever put on a Broad Run softball uniform is walking a little taller today."
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