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For top-ranked Silverdale Baptist softball team, ‘sharing joy’ is key

Staff photo by Matt Hamilton / Silverdale Baptist Academy softball coach Jackie Freelend claps as Kennedy Stinson rounds third base after hitting a two-run homer during the Lady Seahawks' 5-0 win at Baylor in May 2023. Freelend's team went on to win the TSSAA Division II-A state title at the Spring Fling that month, and the Lady Seahawks are 37-3 this year with less than two weeks remaining in the regular season.
Staff photo by Matt Hamilton / Silverdale Baptist Academy softball coach Jackie Freelend claps as Kennedy Stinson rounds third base after hitting a two-run homer during the Lady Seahawks' 5-0 win at Baylor in May 2023. Freelend's team went on to win the TSSAA Division II-A state title at the Spring Fling that month, and the Lady Seahawks are 37-3 this year with less than two weeks remaining in the regular season. Staff photo by Matt Hamilton / Silverdale Baptist Academy softball coach Jackie Freelend claps as Kennedy Stinson rounds third base after hitting a two-run homer during the Lady Seahawks' 5-0 win at Baylor in May 2023. Freelend's team went on to win the TSSAA Division II-A state title at the Spring Fling that month, and the Lady Seahawks are 37-3 this year with less than two weeks remaining in the regular season.

By Patrick MacCoon 7 min read

Mudita.

All season long, Silverdale Baptist Academy softball coach Jackie Freelend has emphasized to her players this ancient Indian word, which means to be genuinely happy for someone else’s good fortune or success.

There are plenty of opportunities for the Lady Seahawks to practice that concept within their own team.

A year after winning the TSSAA Division II-A title, they are loaded again, sporting a 37-3 record with less than two weeks remaining in the regular season and ranked by MaxPreps.com as Tennessee’s No. 1 team, regardless of classification. Their only loss to an in-state team this year is 2-0 to Siegel (Alabama’s Tuscaloosa County dealt them their other two defeats), and they have outscored their opponents 291-35 through 40 games, including 197-15 against in-state competition.

The Lady Seahawks recently completed an unbeaten run through their DII-A District 2 schedule, they have won a trio of championships at in-season tournaments while finishing second in another, and they have hit a combined 102 home runs since the start of the 2023 season.