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NEWPORT – The Newport Grizzlies may come off on a losing season, but it doesn’t reflect the softball team’s spirit of competitiveness as exemplified by sisters Brooklyn and Bella Boyd.
Brooklyn Boyd casts around to see if anyone is contemplating a stolen base before winding up the ball for a perfect pitch into her sister Bella’s catcher’s mitt.
Strike three! The umpire yells.
“Softball is a mental game. It taught me to be more patient,” Brooklyn Boyd says. “It teaches us unity because it’s not a one-woman sport, its nine. You need those nine to play.” Softball also teaches mental toughness, she says. Boyd, a senior, has played on the team for three years.
When she graduates, Boyd says she will be entering the biology program at Spokane Falls Community College.
Boyd says she will remember the Grizzlies’ softball team.
“Our bus rides are so much fun together. They are chaotic but in a fun way. All the girls are so much fun to hang out with,” she says.
Another favorite memory is hitting a home run against Riverside.
“It felt good,” she says. Boyd’s younger sister Bella has been playing softball since the seventh grade.
“My mom forced me into it,” she says half-jokingly.
Bella Boyd doesn’t consider herself a great athlete but says she works hard and sometimes expects too much from her teammates.
“Yelling is a small challenge or pretending to play all by yourself without letting all the other girls play,” Bella says of her competitive spirit.
Boyd and her sister Brooklyn have played on and off the field since they were young.
“Sometimes we have arguments about little things but they get resolved,” Boyd says.
Boyd says coach Steve Braun is their best friend and the coach returns the favor.
“They are amazing and they work well together,” he said. “Lots of sisters fight a lot but they compete and push each other to play every game.”
Newport had no winning games this season, although they were close to winning in a few.
“We remain competitive, we had the lead but kind of lost it in the end,” Braun said.
Brooklyn Boyd is an All-League player in softball, a sport she excels at.
“She is a good pitcher, catcher and she can play any position we put her in,” Braun said. “She is our starting pitcher this year.”
Bella also is an excellent softball player, Braun said, and is the team’s leadoff batter.
“She’s hit three homeruns over the fence this year,” he said.
The Grizzlies will lose three seniors this year to graduation including Boyd, so Braun said he is developing the younger players.
“It will be a tough loss for us,” he said.
“They work hard at every game and practice. It’s been hard not winning games for them yet but they never give up and they always fight hard,” Braun said. “They get along not only with their teammates but with each other.”
Brooklyn steps on the mound, dusts off her feet and waits for a signal from her sister. She is ready. Bella is ready. The whole team is ready, come what may.
