At the beginning of the 2019 season the Fountain Hills High School softball team had one goal for the months ahead: To change the ending. The Lady Falcons did just that, capping off their most successful season in more than a decade with a region title.

Head coach Randy Bragg said he was proud to see that his team was able to put into action what they had all agreed upon was going to be their goal for the season.

“I am very pleased with how the season went despite the disappointing loss at Window Rock [in the state tournament],” Bragg said. “At the beginning of the season I gave the girls a wristband that had the words, ‘Change the Ending.’ Well, we did that. The program has taken a turn in the right direction and we have changed the ending for our program.”

Fountain Hills’ season started off a little shaky when the Falcons dropped their first two home games against Snowflake and Northwest Christian, only scoring three runs across those two games.

However, in the Falcons’ third game against San Tan Foothills, the Lady Falcons were able to pull things together, scoring a crushing victory over San Tan, 21-9.

This was the start of Fountain Hills’ six-game winning streak, which was the longest of their season but a feat they achieved twice.

However, FHHS did have a challenging schedule that pitted them against some of the top teams in their division. Sometimes the Lady Falcons were able to rise to the challenge of beating a top-ranked team and sometimes the young local squad struggled.

“We played some really tough teams; six of our seven conference losses were from teams ranked at the top of the 3A conference,” Bragg said. “We also had some victories over teams that made it to the tournament, such as Ben Franklin High School.”

With so many memorable games this season it was the win that started off the Lady Falcons’ second six-game win streak that was Bragg’s favorite.

“For me the game that propelled us through the region was the home game against American Leadership Academy Gilbert,” Bragg explained. “We were coming off a disappointing loss to Arizona College Prep and we were trailing late in the game. The girls battled back and Sophia Buckley hit a big two-run homerun in the bottom of the sixth and shut them down in the top of the seventh to preserve the comeback victory.”

Of course Fountain Hills would not have achieved its 18-9 season if the squad didn’t have a roster brimming with talent.

The two Lady Falcons that made the biggest splash in the 3A Metro Division were Sydney Loyet and Gabbi Coughlin.

Loyet, the team’s leadoff hitter, was named 3A Metro East Region Player of the Year and finished the season with a .423 batting average and 23 RBI.

Coughlin, the lone senior on the team this season, was named the 3A Metro East Region Offensive Player of the Year, with a batting average of .374, a slugging average of .538, 32 RBI and 18 stolen bases.

Two other Falcons also made first team all-region, Kim Hoyt and Sophia Buckley.

Hoyt batted at a .376 average with an on-base percentage of .514. Buckley, along with being FHHS’ primary pitcher for the season, also led the team in homeruns.

With only one graduating senior leaving the team, the next few seasons look promising for the FHHS Softball program.

“The future is very bright. To win the region with eight out of nine starters being underclassmen is significant,” Bragg said. “We also know that there is talent coming up. The biggest effort will be for us to mold ourselves into becoming a confident team that knows it can win and that each player is there for the team, and not for themselves. I think this will come with maturity and I am excited to see how it plays out on the field.”