07/30/2026
“How lucky am I to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.” Winnie-the-pooh never coached girls softball but this quote hits home right now. When this team was assembled four years ago, I never dreamed we would have been as successful as we were, how close we would all become, or how many memories we would make. When you spend parts of 45ish weeks a year together at fundraisers, practice and tournaments, you truly become a family. I am thankful for each and every one of you who has been a part of this journey whether you are/were a player, guest player, parent, family member, fan, friend or even opponent.
To the girls, I want to say thank you. Thank you for making this incredible journey something I will never forget. Thank you for working hard to be better every day. Thank you for trusting your coaches to teach you both the skills of the game and lessons to be carried out throughout your life. I hope that you feel you are better players and people because of it. I wish you nothing but the best on and off the field and will always be one of your biggest supporters. Do not look at this as the end, rather an opportunity to grow and experience new things. Whatever team you are going to, you will make them better and stronger than they were before.
To the parents, thank you. Thank you for always supporting our girls, for always making sure they were where they needed to be, with full stomachs, caffeinated and layered up with sunscreen. Thank you for organizing hotels, fundraisers, team dinners, photo shoots, doing game changer, helping with practice when coaches were injured and the countless hours of laughter we all had together.
To our families and fans, thank you for your support throughout the past four years. From the blistering cold, snow, rain, 100 plus degree days, you always showed up to support our team. The waves of orange and blue could be spotted from afar and there was no doubt which field our team was playing on.
To our opponents, I hope when you played us you felt the respect you deserved. The foundation of our team was built on respect and to treat others how we want to be treated. To be humble in both victory and defeat. To have positive attitudes and give maximum effort. I appreciate the friendships I have made with other coaches and the many hours of conversations we have had both on and off the field.
To Justin, Heidi and Ciarra, thank you. I Certainly could not have done this without the three of you and we would not have been nearly as successful as we were. I am thankful to have coached with the three of you over the past few years and I’d like to think we did a pretty good job.
Over the past four years, this team has a record of 182-48-4. They showed up at every tournament ready to play and hungry to win. We won, we lost, even tied a few times but most importantly we did it together, as a team.
All that said, we aren’t done yet. As we enter our final tournament together this weekend for one last ride, we are hungry, excited and confident. Get ready Palmyra….One final storm is comin’.
“Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.” Dr. Seuss
-Coach Matt
