Collegiate District Chairs
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Triumphant Trojans:
After first-ever playoff win, University softball hungry for more
Staff photo By Jerry Larson, www.wacotrib.com
By BRICE CHERRY [email protected]
For decades, University High School’s softball players never knew what it felt like to play a game in May. When the regular season ended in April, so began the Lady Trojans’ summer break.
Two years ago, progress emerged from the University dugout. The Lady Trojans made the playoffs for the first time in school history in 2014. They returned again last year, winning 21 games, including the Killeen ISD tournament.
Now, University’s upward mobility has ascended to thrilling new heights. After sweeping Bryan in two games in the Class 5A bi-district playoffs last weekend, the Lady Trojans are climbing to the postseason’s second round for the first time ever.
“We’re a part of history,” junior centerfielder Ashley Estrada said. “To say that we were the first-ever softball team that made it to the second round, third year in a row to make the playoffs, it’s very rewarding.”
It anyone can appreciate the Lady Trojans’ momentous trajectory, it’s University head coach Karen Ramirez. She’s a 2010 University graduate, a former softball player who experienced a “whole different ball game” during her time donning those purple uniforms.
The high school was located off Valley Mills Drive then, and didn’t feature the same sparkling amenities of today. The practice field situation was vastly different.
“I tell them, ‘You are so blessed.’ We would hit
on a field with no backstops, no fence in the back,” Ramirez said, grinning at the memories. “We would be very timid to hit it out very far, so we didn’t have to shag the ball that much. It would go all the way to the football field if you really hit it.”
In those days, Ramirez laid out a career path that she hoped would bring her back to University some day as a teacher and head softball coach. She just never expected it to happen so quickly.
After playing college softball at Southwestern in Georgetown, Ramirez was
hired as an assistant coach back at her old high school stomping grounds. She figured she’d bide her time as an assistant for several years before dipping her toe into the head coaching waters. But after Jaime Villarrial departed as head coach following the 2015 season, Ramirez landed her dream job ahead of schedule.
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Karen Ramirez is an Alumna of the Alpha Tau chapter at Southwestern University in Georgetown, TX.