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Occasionally I’m asked, “What’s your favorite story you’re written or covered?”
There are many, to be sure, but Janie’s Inning would have to be at or near top of the list.
In the Spring of 2014, I was managing a softball site for Student Sports out of Torrance, California and profiled an already well-accomplished high school sophomore catcher from Lafayette, Louisiana named Bailey Hemphill.
She, of course, today is an All-American at Alabama, setting the school single-season home run (26) and RBI (84) records last year as a junior and, from what I saw then, was as nice and friendly off the field as she was on it.
In the profile I originally wrote on Bailey in January of 2014 (you can read it by clicking HERE) she mentioned that one of the highlights of her freshman season, along with her high school team winning the Louisiana 4A state title and her being named the 4A Outstanding Player, was what became “Janie’s Inning.”
Bailey said: “One of our teammates (Janie Girouard) has Down syndrome. She was at every practice, every game, every tournament, every step of the way with us. We have a special inning after each home game called “Janie’s Inning” where the opposing team pitches to her, and we hit her around until she scores a run. We all learned many life lessons last season through Janie.”
In that beautiful ending to every Cougar home game—and many road games as well—Janie was the last to touch the plate, scoring the “winning run” and celebrated as the hero by all.
Her father, Jason, “It’s everything to her, it’s the single most satisfying part of her life… it gives her confidence and she feels accepted and that confidence spills out in her personal life as well.”
Here is video from one of “Janie’s Innings” which culminated with her making it safely home and being mobbed by teammates and, eventually, opponents alike:
What’s great, I wrote at the time, was “Janie got to be a player, not just a bat girl, and rival teams and even entire communities benefitted. Opposing players and coaches were eager to take part because it taught service, goodwill, helping others and putting priorities in order. It makes everyone involved feel good, because it’s making a young girl feel like a super star while being, simply, a regular athlete.”
Below is my article, which showed so much love from the Lafayette community towards Janie and her family, and it became even more poignant by the news that season that Janie’s mother was battling breast cancer.
This story, to me, transcended softball because it showed how people can rise to the occasion when there’s a chance to demonstrate kindness and care.
And be sure to check out the follow-up at the end of the article below to see where Janie and her family are today…
—Brentt Eads, Extra Inning Softball
*****
Janie’s Inning
Originally published April 4, 2014 on StudentSportsSoftball.com
Sports are about winning… and losing.
In a sport like softball, in every game, every inning, every at bat, there’s a winner and a loser.
But in Louisiana high school softball, there’s a place where no one loses, where even the team that falls short on the scoreboard gets to play an extra inning and walk off the field smiling.
In 2013, opponents of St. Thomas More High in Lafayette, Louisiana more often than not fell short on runs as the Lady Cougars finished the year as the Class 4A State Champions.
Still, no visitors were complaining that their bus ride home had to wait a little longer, because last year—and increasingly more this spring—opposing players get the benefit of playing an extra inning of softball and making one young girl very, very happy.
It’s called “Janie’s Inning” and with Janie’s Inning, everyone is a winner.
Batting 1.000
Janie Girouard has Down syndrome and is the Team Manager as well as a player on the defending state champs. The freshman doesn’t pinch run or pinch hit, come into the game as a sub or see playing time when the game is out of hand, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t have an impact.
In fact, Janie probably has touched more lives in Lafayette – the “Heart of Cajun Country” – than she’ll ever know and it’s not just because she gets her own inning after the game is officially over.
Sophomore catcher Bailey Hemphill is one of the stars for the Lady Cougars and after hitting .595 with 16 home runs and 57 RBI to earn All-State honors, you ask the Alabama commit what were some of the highlights of her title-winning year in 2013 was and one of the first things she’ll say is having Janie on the team.
“Janie was at every practice, every game, every tournament, and every step of the way with us,” the catcher explains. “We have a special inning after each home game where the opposing team pitches to her, and we hit her around until she scores a run. We all learned many life lessons last season through Janie.”
Janie’s father, Jason Girouard, says that the young athlete couldn’t be prouder of her role with the Lady Cougars.
“It’s everything to her,” he begins. “It’s the single most satisfying part of her life. It’s who she sees herself as and who she is proud to be. Janie’s Inning does more than just give her a chance to play, it gives her confidence and makes her feel accepted and that confidence spills out in her personal life as well.”
“When we are out in the community and sees a high school aged female, Janie walks up and introduces herself as an STM softball player. She feels like everyone knows her from that at bat.”
“And if you are around to witness her at bat and see her smile; it’s easy to see how much she enjoys it! She makes sure to let everyone know STM has a game coming up and certainly tells the story of her hit after. To Janie, that is her chance to shine, and when she walks out to the plate holding her bat, well, she truly feels like a rock star!”
The inning always goes the same way. The opposition takes the field, pitching to Janie who, one way or another, puts the ball into play and makes it on base. In that respect, she has the highest average on the team, batting 1.000 as Janie’s Inning wouldn’t be anything if not for having a special baserunner.
Following her in the batting order, the other Lady Cougars also somehow find a way to advance the baserunner and the inning concludes with a triumphant trip around the base paths and a group celebration at home plate.
It’s one of the very few times you’ll see the losers as excited to congratulate the winning runner as the home team.
Janie’s Inning at Home… and Away
Last season, St. Thomas More asked visiting teams if they would be part of the tradition after home games, but this year word has spread and some teams have asked to do it at their home games. Sometimes the extra play doesn’t happen if weather or darkness (most fields in the area don’t have lights) cause problems.
The inspiration from Janie’s inning has been needed more than ever this year.
At the end of the season last year, Janie’s mother, Loretta Girouard, was diagnosed with breast cancer. And, then this fall, the mother of senior utility player Jaime Landry, Debbie Landry, a teacher at STM, was also diagnosed with breast cancer.
On April 5, the Lady Cougars made their game against district rival, Teurlings Catholic High School, a fundraiser game as both teams wore special pink and white jerseys. The Pack the Park Pink fundraiser raised nearly $4,000 with all proceeds going to Miles Perret Cancer Services.
The first ball for the game, which Teurlings won 3-2, was thrown out by Janie’s mother, Loretta.
The ongoing success of STM, ranked third in Class 4A as of last week with a 16-5 overall record and 9-1 in district and sitting in first place, has been a welcome distraction this season from the battles the team is facing off the field.
And so too has Janie with her always positive attitude to keep up the spirits of coaches, players and parents.
“Janie is always fun to be around,” says Jaime Landry, her teammate, who has signed with the University of Louisiana-Lafayette after winning All-State honors last year.
“She keeps us laughing and there is never a dull moment when she is around. Also, she reminds us of the reasons we started playing softball. She has a love for the game that inspires us to play for the fun and the love of the game. Without Janie our team would not be the same.”
An Athlete From Birth
Jason Girouard believes that Janie’s exuberant personality came because she was raised to be that way.
“Our intention was to not shelter her,” he states. “We know many families that seemed to be embarrassed by their child’s disability, appearance, actions and behavior, in which they tend to avoid situations that bring attention to it.”
“We were totally the opposite and chose advocacy—our intention was to bring attention to her and her disability. We looked at her as our daughter and promised to never focus on her disability or what she couldn’t do but to try to involve her in as many things possible to find and facilitate the things she could and to expose her to the things she couldn’t so she get a chance to learn how to.”
Janie was less than six months old when she first started aquatic therapy where she quickly showed a love of water and impressed everyone with how well she could swim. She first started organized sports at four years old in soccer in a regular league with her peers of normal ability. Later that year Janie also picked up dancing and tee ball.
At the age of five she joined a “special needs” soccer league which Jason and Loretta ended up taking over for several years managing and coaching. It was there on the soccer sidelines where several parents generated the idea to start a baseball league for kids with special needs.
They chose to adopt the “Challenger League” which was already established worldwide with affiliation to “International Little League Baseball.”
After a few years that team was invited to travel to play in Williamsport, Pennsylvania at an exhibition game at the ESPN/ABC televised Little League World Series.
“The community here backed us and the team raised money which paid for basically everything including travel, uniforms, bat bags and individual helmets,” Janie’s father, Jason, continues.
“Marucci donated a bat for each player with personalized engraved names and numbers that she still uses to hit with. The trip was an experience none will forget and in fact most of them still ask to go back again. They became local celebrities with organized ‘signings’ and appearances at college and high school sporting events and various community civic events.”
More than Just a Batgirl
After the World Series trip, Janie was invited to be the manager and batgirl for her elementary softball team. Once she enrolled in high school, her parents inquired as to the possibility of her being the batgirl there.
“The staff at St. Thomas More does a fantastic job in trying to place all the special needs students in a suitable extracurricular activity,” Jason continues, “so together, they and the coaches accepted our request but not to be a batgirl. They wanted her to be on the team as a player!”
The idea of the extra inning is credited to Assistant Coach Danielle Price who also runs the special needs program at the school called Options.
“Coach Price asked us if we would play a special inning for Janie at the end of our home games,” Bailey Hemphill remembers. “Everyone of course agreed. The team has had managers from the Options program in years past, but we wanted something better for Janie. Instead of Janie just sitting in the dugout, she was able to experience what we experience on the field.”
“Janie always has a positive outlook and she cheers no matter what, even when we’re losing or not playing our best. She is genuinely excited to be at the field, and that helps to pump up the rest of the team. She teaches us to not take anything for granted.”
It’s not just her teammates who benefit, obviously, or more teams wouldn’t want to be involved. Being able to help others and walking away feeling good about yourself is something that everyone enjoys.
But is there a concern that those around Janie are doing Janie’s Inning to make themselves feel good as opposed to making it all about Janie?
Her father doesn’t think so.
“In our opinion, we don’t see any negative with it at all,” he says. “Of course, others take part to make themselves feel good, but that’s not a bad thing. No one asks for attention from it. No one tries to profit from it. It’s for Janie but taking a little piece of it for themselves is what it’s all about!”
“[Head] Coach [Andria Waguespack] was telling us that it’s catching the attention of opposing teams and that when they are scheduled to play us they are eager to take part. So, yes, some of it is for themselves, but that is what is so awesome about it. It’s one thing to just do it, but it’s not like that. The coaches designed it for everyone and everyone wants to do it!”
“In Janie’s Inning, the game is over and is performed after the last out is recorded. It’s takes a little time from everyone, but the players play, the coaches coach, the umpires continue to call the game, and all the fans cheer. One little girl has her moment but hopefully everyone benefits in some way. It’s all positive as we see it.”
For Janie and her parents, it also gives them the satisfaction of her being just an everyday, regular athlete.
“We love it,” Jason continues. “Every young parent wonders with his or her first born how they will someday fit in among peers, but with a special needs child those thoughts are multiplied and the anxieties that accompany that are real and certainly powerful. Looking back on what we were once so afraid she would miss out on has proved to us that God always has a plan.”
Another benefit of Janie’s Inning, her father emphasizes, is it brings awareness to her disability.
“The attention is two-sided. As parents, it means nothing to us except the pride seeing it go to our child. But the attention it creates is extremely important. Again this is much bigger than Janie. As advocates, we see the potential for the attention it brings to create other opportunities for different special need student athletes.”
“Hopefully, when an opposing team has an opportunity to add a teammate from their school, they can look back upon this experience to use as a reference to allow it. It would only snowball from there.”
“Even with Janie’s inning,” her proud father concludes, “in a few years it will belong to someone else, but to know that Janie had a part in making that happen is humbling.”
— Brentt Eads
*****
UPDATING JANIE’s INNING…
In 2014, St. Thomas More repeated as 4A state champions and standout sophomore Bailey Hemphill would go on to become a high school All-American. By the time she was a senior in 2016, she was named Louisiana Miss Softball and rated as the top catcher in her class.
During the title run in 2014, the story of Janie’s Inning would be sent to the Louisiana High School Athletic Association and would be posted on the LHSAA website. Thanks to the internet and social media publicity, the game-ending Innng became even more well-known across the state.
In the spring of that memorable season, St. Thomas More made the playoffs and traveled to Covington for the second-round regional game vs. St. Scholastica Academy. The coach at SSA had heard of Janie’s Inning, called Coach Andria Waguespack and said they wanted to do Janie’s Inning win or lose. STM won that game and St. Scholastica Academy followed through, making it the first time Janie’s Inning was played in a playoff game.
Moving on to the quarterfinal round at Fastpitch 56 in Sulphur, St. Thomas More faced Ellender High and, with the approval of the LHSAA, both teams also played a Janie’s Inning after the STM victory.
The excitement of the eventual state title, however, was tempered by the growing struggles Janie’s mother faced as her breast cancer worsened.
A happy moment for the family took place on Valentine’s Day, 2015 when Janie was presented to a large crowd—including Mom, Dad and younger sister Maddie—in her Sweet Sixteen dress:
Sadly, less than two months later, on Easter Sunday (April 5) of 2015, Loretta Girouard— nicknamed “Lela” by her friends—lost her three-year battle with cancer. She was only 41-years-old and left behind her husband and two daughters, Janie (17 at the time) and Maddie (then 12).
“Loretta’s passing hit us all pretty hard,” St. Thomas More softball coach Andria Waguespack told the Daily Advertiser in May, 2015. “People asked Janie how she was doing at school. She would say, ‘It’s OK; my momma is in heaven now.’”
The family would create a “Love for Lela” campaign to raise money and awareness for breast cancer.
Today, Jason Girouard is still a Captain at the Lafayette Fire Station; he’s now in his 27th year and looking back states, “It was a tough process with her passing, but it’s been almost five years now and we have adapted for the most part.”
Maddie, now 17, is a junior at St. Thomas More and stays active, though not in softball. Her father laughingly states she stays busy with “school, family, church, babysitting and boyfriend.” The youngest sibling’s goal is to become a Physical Therapist and “give back and help other special needs children develop into productive pieces of society so they can be involved as Janie was.”
Her proud father adds, “Maddie biggest achievement is how she unselfishly stepped up to be a ‘big sister’ to her older sister (Janie) and in, most cases, be in a motherly role. She has really matured as a person way beyond her age.”
Janie turned 22-years-old last October and still sports that always-present smile.
Her father says she stays active, but not as active as she was in high school “mostly because, as a single parent, it was hard working full-time (nights and weekends) and keeping them both involved. I wanted to give my youngest (Maddie) opportunities as well.”
Janie works a few hours twice a week at a food wholesale manufacturer where they make and distribute meat pies.
“It’s more than 85 percent special needs employees run by a special needs non-profit locally,” Jason says of his softball-loving daughter who, for a brief time in Louisiana high school sports history, had the unheard of distinction of scoring the last run in almost every game for her state championship-winning team.