Florida-commit Layla Lamar, #3 in the 2024 Extra Elite 100, has been rehabbing a knee injury this fall, but that hasn’t stopped her from being with her Lady Dukes-Lamar teammates… and from blogging for Extra Inning Softball.
Layla will blog about all her adventures with the Lady Dukes this year and share them with us.
You can also read a profile on her we did titled: Layla Lamar… Great Bloodlines For One of the Best Talents In the Nation.
Here’s the latest with Layla, including a trip to Clearwater, Florida, for the Southeastern Fastpitch League Fall Championship.
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Lady Dukes Clearwater Recap
This weekend was a rather long weekend unlike the past few weekends we have had. We got to Clearwater on Wednesday night. On the way to the hotel, the water and houses on the water were all lit up and so pretty. I was super excited for practice the next day and to be able to explore the city!
Thursday morning, I woke up early to get online for class. I had four classes from 7:30 am-2:30 pm. After school, I got dressed and headed to practice. I was super excited to see my teammates!
Practice started at 4:30 pm, so we got there around 4 pm to talk and stretch out. This past weekend, Sophie Garner-MacKinnon (2022, RHP, Duke commit) guest-played with us, so at the beginning of practice we all introduced ourselves and really made sure everyone felt welcome.
Practice started off with fielding and throwing drills, per usual. They then went into team defense. That went well, everyone had good energy, which carried over into the scrimmage we had against our Lady Dukes 16U team. That went well, our pitchers looked great and everyone had lots of passion; I had a good feeling about this weekend.
Friday morning came around fast, I started my day off by getting online for class again, this time I did my work with Sophie. It was cool to be able to talk about school and the online situation and how COVID-19 is affecting lots of people’s school routine. But it was nice to get to know her more before we would be on the softball field together that weekend.
After I finished my schoolwork, my family and I went to grab lunch, then headed straight to the cages for a little bit of team batting practice before the game. Everyone had great energy, and we were ready to play.
Game 1 was at 5:30 pm against the Louisville Sluggers-Huecker, this game was a close one. But we played together as one and had some timely and clutch hits to give us the go-ahead run. After those first couple innings, we played good defense and busted it open at the plate. The final score of this game was 7-3. A few errors were made, but at the end of the day we came out of this game with a win and ready to go into Game 2!
Our next game was at 7:30 pm vs. the EC Bullets-Schnute. This game was full of energy. We played this game as a team and there was a tight D behind our pitchers. Sophie and Cassidy Curd (2022, Duke commit) shared the mound in this game and threw very well, only allowing 2 runs.
Ana Gold (2022, IF, Duke commit) came in clutch in the last inning with a two-run home run. It was not just a normal home run; this was a 10-plus pitch at-bat and she hit a moon shot. This put us up 4-2 and gave us insurance going into the last inning. Cassidy Curd closed this game and we came out of Friday 2-0 against some of the best teams in the 18U division.
Saturday was a long day. Game 1 was at 10:15 am. Everyone arrived at 9:15 am. Warm-ups went quickly, and before I knew it the first pitch was thrown. We were playing the Wichita Mustangs 18U team.
As a team we hit well. Aminah Vegah (2022, UCF Commit) led this game off with a stand-up triple and that really got our offense going. Towards the end of the game Jada Baker (2021, Duke Commit) hit a two-run homer that put us at a score of 7-2. Once again, Cassidy and Sophie shared this game and only allowed two runs.
Right after this game, we played back-to-back against the Fury Platinum 18U team. This game was very steady. We did not have a ton of energy this game, but every once in while every team is going to have these types of games. Despite that, our bats were hot, all the way around the lineup did their job. We came out of this game with another 7-2 win. Sophie threw most of this game and Cassidy came in the last inning to shut things down.
After this game we had a decent break and our next game was not until 6:30 pm. In between these games, I went to eat with a couple of my teammates — Jada, Breezy Burnett and Kairi Rodriguez (Duke commit).
We ate at Newk’s and we do not have those in North Carolina, so it was fun trying something I have never had before. After we ate lunch, Jada and I went to Target. We stopped to get this snack celled “Tru Fru.” They are basically frozen raspberries covered in white and milk chocolate. They are so good and we all get them like every time we are together, so it was tradition that had to be kept!
After we went to Target, we went back to the hotel and relaxed for a little while. Around 5:15 pm we headed back to the field for 5:30 warm-ups.
Warm-ups went well. We always bring a ton of energy to night games and we did to this one as well. This game we played the Louisville Sluggers again. We played a tight game, did not have that many hits and we only scored a couple of runs.
In the bottom of the 7th, the game was tied. Unfortunately, the Sluggers hit a walk-off home run and took home the win. Even though we did not come out of this game with a win, we learned a lot as a team and played a good game. The biggest thing we learned from this game is how important it is to not leave runners on base.
After Game 3 of the day, some of us players went to Smokey Bones for team dinner. Many stories were told, laughs were heard and memories were made. We got back to the hotel room around 11:30 pm, which is our curfew, and went to bed quickly and eager for Sunday!
Sunday, we had an 8:15 am game. Everyone got to the field by 7:15 to prepare for warmups. This was a do-or-die game. Our opponent was the EC Bullets-Schnute once again. Tyrina Jones (2021, Purdue Commit) was the freshest arm and started this game. She did very well, did her job.
Sophie Garner MacKinnon came in and closed the game out. The pitchers and defense held it down, only allowing two runs. We fell a little bit short on the offensive side of things. In the top of the 7th, we had runners on 1st base and 2nd base; unfortunately, they secured the third out before anyone crossed home plate.
Despite the 2-1 loss, we learned a lot. Coach James often says, it takes adversity and learning moments for our team to become better and that is what we continue to do weekend in and weekend out.
Unfortunately, that second loss concluded our time in Clearwater. I think the highlights of this weekend was our pitching, both Sophie Garner-MacKinnon and Cassidy Curd had a combined ERA of less than 1.34.
Aminah Vega also lit things up at the plate with four home runs this weekend. Although everything is a team effort, those things really stood out to me.
We finished in the top 3 teams of the tournament; qualifying us to go to the Alliance Fastpitch Championship tournament next summer. Like always, I enjoyed all my time this past weekend with my team.
I learn so much sitting back and watching the game. I cannot wait until I am able to play. I look forward to getting back on the field with my best friends. I look forward to seeing this amazing group of people again on January 4th in Arizona for the PGF AZ Winter Invitational tournament!
— Layla Lamar #17
