Deuces are wild while cheering for 'Sully' By Josh Meltzer

Several innings pass in the Group AA quarterfinal softball game against Tunstall High School on June 6.
Pitch. Strike. Pitch. Ball. No one on base and no hits.
Aside from a strike out or pop fly caught in center field, the crowd of parents and students at the Cave Spring game is relatively quiet. The score is 1-0 and the nationally ranked Knights are inching toward the semifinals. The action is at a lull, but the players keep the intensity high.
A stream of cheers and chants pour through the chain-linked fence. First baseman Jillian Sullivan is at bat and the rest of her teammates hang their fingers on the fence as she waits for the pitch from Brittney Arnn.
Catcher Meredith Moore (in photo) blurts out “Sully” and her teammates echo her loudly with the precision of a marching band. Then in perfect rhythm Moore barks, “Deuces,” and the team responds again. Again and again for Sullivan, who wears No. 22.
“Sully.”
“Sully.”
“Deuces.”
“Deuces.”
“It [cheering] helps to keep it lively because when you go through times when everyone’s kind of like lulled out, it keeps you into it and having fun because it can get boring,” says center fielder Jessica Lancaster.
Though a few of the cheers have been stolen and adapted from their rivals, and a couple of others were modified from an older sister’s college team, the players learned most of them together from the first time they played in youth leagues.
“Sometimes we’ll leave the game and you’ll hear some of the girls on the team still saying some of the cheers,” Sullivan says. “It’s just funny because we can’t get them out of our heads sometimes.”

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