Lady Diamonds have bittersweet feelings on Senior Night

After Thursday’s Senior Night ceremony after the regular-season finale against Inola, all three Sallisaw softball seniors — shortstop/pitcher Madison Green and injured outfielders Makenna Bormann and Promise Flute — were all emotional thinking about what the night meant.

“I came in as a freshman, thinking it was going to take forever,” Green said. “In blink of an eye, it (home career fastpitch softball season) is gone. All I can tell my future girls on this team is don’t take time for granted. You don’t have that much time. Play as hard as you can.”

“This night has meant so much to me because this is a night I’ve looked forward to ever since my freshman year,” Bormann said. “Although I’m not playing like I would have wanted to, things don’t go always the way we plan them. My advice to my fellow teammates is play like it’s your last day because you never know when it is.”

“It was really important to me,” Flute said. “It’s my first and last year at Sallisaw. It just flies by so fast. You can’t take anything for granted. Even though I got hurt this year, I’m glad that I got to play with some amazing girls.”

Although the Lady Diamonds won only three games in the regular season, now as the postseason begins this week, the slate is clean at 0-0. Sallisaw will meet host Verdigris at noon Thursday in the Class 4A Regional Tournament. If the Lady Diamonds run the table, they currently stand five wins from the Class 4A State Tournament and eight wins from a state championship.

“It’s a fresh start for us,” Green said. “I think we can go into this week and try to go out with a bang.”

Unfortunately, Bormann’s injury was a season-ending one, so she won’t be back out on the softball field this fall. However, she still makes contributions.

“In the dugout, I’m trying to keep a positive attitude and keep the girls high spirited and help them pick one another up, and just try to be the best teammate I can be while cheering them on,” Bormann said.

However, there is a chance Flute can return this week for the regional tournament, which would make the senior outfielder a happy camper.

“(On Senior Night), it was very frustrating not being able to play,” Flute said. “I’m really hoping I can get back out there and finish off this year (in the outfield) with my girls.”

All three seniors are in agreement that winning state the week of Fall Break at the Class 4A State Tournament will be icing on their softball career’s cake.

“I think I would feel over the moon,” Green said. “It’s just going to take everybody to stick together and trust each other.”

“Like Madi (Green) said, I’d be over the moon,” Flute said. “I would be so proud of all of us. I’m just hoping we can get there.”

“It would mean the world to me,” Bormann said. “It would give me so much joy to see these girls put in the work and bring home that state championship.”