The Wheatland baseball team and the entire Hickory County community is still basking in the glow after accomplishing something no squad before them ever has. “They’re just a special group,” said head coach Pat Dougherty following their 2025 run. “I mean, that’s three Final Fours in a row if you count basketball. It’s pretty big shoes to fill.”
Filling those shoes has been a problem. The Mules lost eight seniors and seven starters from the squad. “Over the Winter it looked like we weren’t going to have enough numbers,” Pat Dougherty said. “Like eight or so.”
So coach gathered his seniors. “He just brought us out of class, and he was like, ‘You know, I don’t think we’re going to have enough,'” said Brett Dougherty, a senior on the team.
However, there was another ballclub at the school that just took home a district title of their own a few months prior. And the Wheatland softball team was available. “I mean all of us, we liked the idea,” Brett said.
“I was very like, on edge about it,” said Mariah Box, a sophomore on both the softball and baseball team. ” I didn’t really want to do it. And then I decided, they probably need some help.”
Mariah joined freshmen Kendrah Box, Lily Davis, and Timber Rife. They were all in, with a little adjustments needed. “[It’s a] smaller ball,” Mariah said. “A lot faster.”
“It adds a little bit of new life to our team,” Brett said. “A little different. A change of pace.”
It’s a change of pace the other team sometimes doesn’t know what to do with. “I’ve heard them be like, ‘Oh man, she’s a lefty,'” said Lily, with a laugh. “‘Oh man, that’s a girl. Why do they have so many girls on their team?'”
And it adds something else. “The main one is just one of them laughing constantly,” Bret said.
“I get the most claps in a game,” said Kendrah. “And, ‘Yeah’s’ and, ‘Yay’s’ and, ‘Woohoos.'”
Each one of them is a giggle box who does damage in the batter’s box.
While bringing new meaning to the phrase, ‘throwing like a girl.’
“My favorite play was, Lilyan caught it in the outfield,” Mariah recalled. “And we were in a relay. I caught it and threw it to third base and Lukas [Gautieri] tagged him and got him out.”
They’re showing they belong with their play. “They’ve been very welcoming.” Mariah said, about the boys on the team.
“I just try to make them as comfortable as they could be,” Brett said. “Just try to talk to them as much. Make them feel like one of us. And make sure they feel like they’re on the team and know that they are.”
They’ve sure stepped up these four. And it could help Wheatland get back to the Final Four.
