• E-mail

When Flower Mound senior pitcher Lauren Kennewell was in her early teens, she was embarrassed to do cheers in the dugout. She was "too cool" for them.

But now?

She's all about the cheers.

So are many softball players, but perhaps none more than those who wear Flower Mound uniforms. The Lady Jaguars' march to a District 6-5A title included a soundtrack of cheers such as "We want a rally," "Win the battle" and "We love you, you stole two."

Flower Mound has so many cheers that a greatest hits collection might require a double album. You can see several of the cheers, along with the cheers of other area teams, on a video at HSGameTime.com/dfw. Be prepared for the consequences, however. After filming teams for a few days, my head is still buzzing with "hit the b-b-b, hit the a-a-a, double l-l-l, hit the ball, hit the ball."

And about a dozen others, because hardly a second goes by when Flower Mound isn't doing a cheer. But what if some players are shy and don't want to do cheers?

"We kind of compromise," senior outfielder Ali Burkhardt said. "If you're not going to yell, at least clap. And if you don't want to clap, then yell. Don't just sit there and do nothing."

It keeps the team unified, said senior shortstop Peighton Huse. And when Huse prepares to hit, she said the cheering helps her confidence.

"Whenever it's a tight situation," she said, "I'm like, 'Oh, I can hear all the girls behind me. I'm all right.' "

Flower Mound players said a lot of their cheers get picked up by other teams. But they pick up cheers from other teams, too. They also have cheers that are personal to each player and some that include inside jokes.

Some cheers also include dance moves.

"Other people think we're kind of weird," Kennewell said, "but when we start to score and we're beating them, then they start doing it."

Cheers have never caught on in baseball, of course, because they just don't jibe with machismo. That makes baseball games strangely quiet, Kennewell said. She did acknowledge, however, that it might be strange to see baseball players harmonize on a chant such as "Engine, engine number four, hit the ball so we can score, ooh ah ah ah, ooh ah ah ah."

But for softball, the cheers are a great fit.

"Whenever you cheer, you get to be a part of the game," Huse said. "It gets everybody involved."

mwixon@dallasnews.com

YEARBOOK MOMENT: During this week in 1996, Waxahachie beat Midlothian, 2-1, to clinch its 10th straight district baseball title and coach Bill Midkiff's 300th victory at the school. Midkiff retired in 2001 after a 28-year coaching career that included two state tournament berths at Waxahachie.

ONE DOWN, ONE TO GO: The Episcopal School of Dallas boys lacrosse team beat Houston Kinkaid, 13-5, on Friday to win the Southwest Preparatory Conference championship. Now it's on to ESD's second goal of the season: defending its state title in the Texas High School Lacrosse League. ESD enters the playoffs as the top seed in the Division I North conference, which features area teams Highland Park, St. Mark's, Plano, Southlake Carroll, Jesuit and Plano West.

FIRST ROUND, FIRST CLASS: Five of the top six in the area 5A softball rankings are from two districts: 9-5A and 10-5A. That's why No. 5 Rowlett and No. 6 Plano East are playing in the first round of the playoffs. Back when people were scurrying for Valentine's Day cards, Plano East opened the season with a 1-0 victory over Rowlett. That's how close the three-game playoff series, which starts tonight, is expected to be.