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COLUMN: Rooting Interests: Yeah, I'll be cheering for the Lady Panthers
BY Kevin Hageland, khageland@starlocalnews.com
One of the things you learn early in the process of becoming a journalist is to remain neutral.
This is especially true in sports journalism as a writer shouldn't have any particular rooting interest on a game-to-game basis as it could corrupt or insert bias into a story.
That being said, I will be cheering for Plano East at the Class 5A State Softball Tournament. Not out loud in the press box or anything like that, but I will be rooting very hard on the inside.
Not just the softball team in particular, but the East program. The school has been open since 1980 and has yet to win a single UIL team state title. Yes, the Panthers have club sports titles to their names (good job bowling team), but not a single UIL team title in any sport. Not one in three-plus decades of varsity athletic competition.
Look at other area schools during that time.
Start with Plano Senior.
The Wildcats have seven football state titles, six boys soccer state titles, four in girls soccer and even one in boys basketball.
But Plano has been around far longer than East, so maybe that's not a fair comparison.
OK, go to Plano West then.
That school has only been open since 1999 yet the Wolves have five girls soccer state titles, four team tennis state titles, a state title in baseball and one in girls basketball. That's 11 in 13 years, East had zero in 32 years.
Want to include the private schools? Prestonwood Christian Academy has won multiple state titles in volleyball, football and boys basketball. John Paul II hasn't won a team title yet, but only opened in 2005 and has already been to the TAPPS state finals in multiple sports, indicating the Cardinals are primed for a breakthrough soon.
So it's understandable that the East community is desperately rooting for a title.
"Winning state would be huge and would make me a very proud alum," said Anthony Hill, former Panthers basketball player. "As talented of a team as we had, we were never able to get it done. The softball team pulling this off would make for a great year for East."
And Hill isn't the only one who recognizes the importance of an East state title.
"The girls know I'll be rooting for them," said Dawn Crow, former East girls soccer head coach. "It would put the softball team in a special lore here, especially among sports people. And it would be the answer to a great trivia question."
While East is without a UIL team state title, the Panthers have been close, especially over the past four years.
And many of those close calls included an unfortunate set of circumstances.
There was the 2007-08 East boys basketball team that won 14 straight games rolling into the Region II Finals, where they lost to Klein Forrest, 76-73, after the potential game-tying 3-pointer from Hill got wedged between the rim and backboard at the buzzer.
Six weeks after that, the East girls soccer team lost in the Class 5A State Championship to Southlake Carroll, 2-1, when Carolyn Polcari's shot with one second left was stopped via a diving save from the Lady Dragons keeper.
That fall, East's volleyball team advanced to the Region I Finals before losing to Amarillo, which was on its way to winning a third straight state title.
Even the Lady Panthers softball team isn't immune to hard luck en route to a potential state title. East advanced to the 2009 Class 5A State Tournament and lost to the No. 1 team in the state, Spring Branch Smithson Valley, 1-0, despite East pitcher Taylor Jones giving up just two hits in 10 innings. Smithson Valley went on to win the state title a day later.
Just two and a half weeks ago, the East girls track team needed to finish no better than third in the 4x100 relay at the Class 5A State Championships to win the team title, but was disqualified for being outside the hand-off zone. That was the only one of her five state events in which senior Jennifer Madu didn't win a gold medal.
Now, Madu travels back to Austin as part of the softball team.
I have no idea what sort of adventures await East when it commences play against Klein Collins at 3 p.m. Friday from Red & Charline McCombs Field in Austin. But after bizarre plays at home plate against Flower Mound and Hebron both went in the Lady Panthers' favor during this year's playoff run, maybe ... just maybe ... luck is on East's side and that will be the team being awarded gold medals at around 6:30 p.m. Saturday.
Wouldn't that be nice? And it would be a long time coming.
That's why I'll be throwing aside my journalistic ethics just a bit and rooting for East this weekend.
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