A heart filled with joy
2020 update: Davis, now a senior and manager for the girls basketball team, got into the Lady Spartans' game against Spain Park on February 5 and scored 12 points! See our video on Facebook or on ESPNW's Twitter.
It’s the bottom of the seventh inning with Mountain Brook up to bat. It’s been a long game and the girls are tired, but not so much so that you can’t hear them cheering. They only have a few more chances left to score and the pressure may be on, but win or lose, these softball Spartans know they have someone on their team who will always have their back: Lindsay Davis.
A freshman at Mountain Brook High School, Davis has Down syndrome, but that doesn’t stop her from being a wonderfully enthusiastic force as the manager for the softball team.
“Everything in her world is wonderful and awesome and great,” coach Karly Miller said. “Her being around us has really brought up the team morale.”
As the manager, Davis attends practices, where Miller said she “feeds the tee” and practices with the players.
“I cheer on my teammates, they’re my friends. It’s the best,” Davis said.
When it’s game time, she sets up the helmets and bats outside of the dugout so the umpires can check them, collects the bats after the hitters are done with them, and makes sure the girls can hear her cheering them on.
“Lindsay brings a high spirit to the team,” Miller said. “That’s her No. 1 thing.”
The players love her spirit too, and know her upbeat personality is a huge positive influence on the team.
“Her confidence is amazing,” said senior third baseman Hollon Skinner. “And I think it reminds us too that we should be confident in ourselves and just play the game we know and the game we love to play.”
“She just lifts us all up,” said senior shortstop Elaine McDonald.
Davis first managed for the junior high softball team last year, and upon starting high school, she continued her passion while expanding her managing repertoire to include the volleyball and girl’s basketball team.
“What interests me in softball is being with my teammates,” she said. “It’s the best thing. I like working with them because it brings joy to my heart.”
It’s safe to say she brings joy to her teammates’ hearts too.
Miller said that while many of the girls are under a lot of stress and pressure academically and athletically to perform well at all times, Davis helps keep their spirits up.
“They get down on themselves, and she’ll be right there to pick them back up,” Miller said. “They realize, ‘You know what? It’s not worth it to be upset, it’s not worth it to feel the pressure or feel stressed.”
During every game, Davis is cheering from the sidelines or the dugouts, doling out hugs and compliments and saying great job to her teammates and friends.
“I love getting back from the dugout and being there, and just watching them, and then Lindsay will just slip right in and go, ‘I love you, Pal!’” said junior pitcher and first baseman Lauren Gilbert.
McDonald said Davis reminds them to have fun, regardless of the score, and that, “it’s never a dull moment with Lindsay.” One of the best moments comes at the end of each game, when, after hearing her name on the loud-speaker, Davis dances up to home plate for her chance to bat.
Amidst the overwhelming sounds of cheering, a teammate pitches to her, and after hitting the ball, she runs to first base.
“I blast off like a rocket ship,” she said. Her teammates try their best to catch her, throwing the ball but missing almost every time, and they never seem to be able to tag her out.
Touching home as her teammates and opposing team members are cheering for her feels amazing, Davis said.
“It was the best thing,” she said.
As of the beginning of March, she had hit 15 home runs this season.
What started as a post-game event at a junior-high game last year has now evolved into a ritual after every game. All the girls know when it’s Davis’s turn to bat — and whether the other teams know what’s coming or not, Miller said they always stick around and cheer her on, too.
“She’s so excited to be up there, and I think sometimes you get lost in going through the motions … seeing Lindsay kinda reminds us of the joy we got from playing the game, which is why we all started playing,” Gilbert said.
“No matter if we won or if we lost, everybody always comes back together in this one moment where we get to celebrate Lindsay and it kinda brings us back together as a team,” Skinner said.