(OBA®) – Orange Beach, AL – During the City Council meeting on Tuesday, June 8, Mayor Tony Kennon and council members Jeff Silvers, Jerry Johnson, Annette Mitchell, Joni Blalock and Mayor Pro-tem Jeff Boyd recognized our very own Lady Makos and the first-year varsity softball team’s history-making 2A state championship title. 

Orange Beach High School Softball Coach Shane Alexander thanked the council for honoring the players and coaches.

“We appreciate everything you do for us and especially for these young ladies,” Coach Alexander said. “You have a special group here. A very special group.”

He said he’s been coaching for 24 years and “never had a group like this and I’ve had some good teams.”

“We knew they were young but we challenged them,” he said. “We took them from Huntsville, Alabama to Birmingham, and as we’ve told them, we threw them in the deep end. And they can swim.

“And we challenged them. We didn’t set a schedule of 2A schools, small schools. No, we played the 6A and 7A schedule.”

After they beat 7A Hoover, he said the players began to realize there was something special here.

From the players to the parents, he said it was like a family.

“It was perfect,” he said. “A perfect ending and they made history. They made Alabama high school history. A first-year program to win a state championship. We knew they were good and our goal, I’ll be honest, was if we can make it to state that would be great. But then we got to state and we kept saying, ‘Well, why not us?’ Why not? And they bought in. They were gritty. That first day they had to play three games. They were tired, they were sore. And then a magical end to a magical season to win a state championship. And I can promise you this. You’re not done hearing about these young ladies. I promise you, they are a special group.”

Coach Alexander said the team couldn’t do it without the city’s support.

“The previous school I was at, we had won a state championship or two,” he said. “I’ve never seen anything coming down the Beach Express with the police escort and I’ve never been involved with anything like that. And I want to say thank you. These ladies deserve it.

“They’re a special group. Not only are they special softball players, they are special kids. They’re quality kids.”

Watch the team recognition on the City Facebook page and the meeting was streamed live. The recognition starts at the 10-minute mark.