It was a fun year to be a Lady Raider.
Having fun, above most things, was what helped the Plant City girls golf team make a deep playoff run and get back into the 3A state championship tournament.
“We had fun, and we won,” sophomore Savannah Kummelman says.
Following a 13th-place finish at Deer Island Country Club, the girls are back in town and, before getting ready for next year, are looking back on this year, as a whole, with nothing but good memories.
GETTING THERE
Plant City teams have been known to rely on a strong senior core in the past, but the 2014 team was much younger. In fact, the only senior in the entire program — boys and girls — was team captain Lindsey Box.
The other veteran roles on the team were filled by juniors Kendall Johnson and Kaylee McIntosh, who were often Plant City’s lowest scorers. Kummelman and fellow sophomore Emily Walker also qualified for the state tournament, and freshmen Abigail Devane and Arden White are waiting in the wings.
Solid team chemistry helped the girls reach the district tournament again, where they went in with a goal to get back to the regional tournament at all costs. Plant City ended up in first place, leading by a comfortable margin of 22 strokes.
“We destroyed everyone — let’s just put it that way,” Kummelman says. “Not ‘destroyed’ in a bad way — we just put ourselves out there to go to regionals. We accomplished what we set out to do.”
As much fun as the team had all year, it was difficult to hide the nerves going into regionals.
SMOOTHER SAILING
Last season, the Lady Raiders fell victim to a perceived scorecard error and a questionable ruling on behalf of the FHSAA, which eliminated them from the state tournament they’d qualified for.
“We were nervous going into regionals because the same team was there,” McIntosh says. “But, after all the nerves were gone, we were just happy that we were able to make it to states this year.”
Knowing that Venice — the team responsible for setting off that chain of events — was back in the tournament wasn’t exactly comforting to the girls, especially since McIntosh’s scorecard was the one that was called into question. Fortunately, Manatee High School hosted the tournament.
“That was (Venice’s) punishment — that they’re not allowed to host any events,” head coach Meg Jordan says.
Plant City once again played well, finishing second overall with a 353. Johnson led all golfers with a 74. This was good enough to get the team back into the state tournament for the first time since Box was a freshman.
THE BIG ONE
If anything, it seems like the girls felt less pressure at states than they did at regionals.
Perhaps it’s because they had already achieved what they set out to do — getting to regionals, and then making states with no snags. They played loose, and they played well.
“It was kind of nerve-racking, but I didn’t really feel like I had a lot of pressure because I wasn’t expecting myself to win,” Kummelman says. “I just kind of went out there to shoot two good scores, and ended up OK.”
To take some of the edge off, the team rented a house instead of a few hotel rooms and bonded over home-cooked meals and Netflix.
“It’s a tiring three days,” Jordan says. “The fact that we had the option to do that just made it nicer, more relaxing. They do that a lot at college events.”
There was some homework that got done, too, but no one’s going to remember bonding over a math assignment.
The girls placed 13th with a total score of 730, led by Johnson’s 151. Her score was good for seventh place individually.
With the exception of Box, every member of this squad will be back next season, and they’ve just started thinking about next season.
They’d all like to go back, and Johnson’s other goal is to break the school record for lowest round before graduation. She’s tied at a 34 with Jordan, Kellyanne Hurst and Kelsey Jensen, and is determined to hit a 33.
“It’s happening,” she says.
Contact Justin Kline at jkline@plantcityobserver.com.
LINDSEY’S LAST DANCE
Plant City captain Lindsey Box, the team’s only senior, ended her golf career at states.
Box has no plans to join a collegiate team, instead hoping to focus on her studies in a business marketing major.
“I’ve always looked at (golf) thinking, ‘I’ll have this forever,’” Box says. “It doesn’t matter if I go to college for it or not.”
Monday afternoon, in an interview, was the first time she realized that her golf career was over. Things got a little emotional in the room, but not in a bad way — Box is pleased with all that she’s done.
“I think, looking back, I’m proud of how I’ve done throughout all of the years,” she says. “Freshman year was a good start. Sophomore and junior year, we still went to regionals, and we were very close to going to states. That’s also an accomplishment, to at least be close. Ending it all as a senior, it was nice to be able to go to states. Overall, I’m proud of what I’ve accomplished.”