Haworth softball coach Sarah Morgan and her senior pitcher Curstin Pate share an intertwined history and a hope to revitalize a dormant slow pitch softball program at Haworth.

Curstin arrived to a family that was big into softball to say the least.

“When I was born and it was time to leave, instead of going home we went right out to my sister’s softball game first,” Curstin laughed. “So I guess it was predetermined I would be a softball player.”

As it turns out, Curstin’s middle sister and coach Morgan played against each other in high school when Morgan was at Ratliff City. As the years went by Curstin’s family moved to Valliant when she was in the eighth grade through her sophomore year and it was there that she was under the guidance of coach Tommy Howard who she cites as one of her role models.

“Coach Howard taught me a lot about softball and some life lessons about making good decisions and how to represent your team when you’re out in public.”

While she was there, Valliant made it to the state tournament in slow pitch her sophomore year coincidentally beating Morgan’s highly successful Holdenville team at regionals to get there before moving back to Haworth a year ago. And it’s that combined experience of coach and player that Morgan hopes will help bring success to Haworth which hasn’t fielded a slow pitch team the past two years.

“Curstin is the most experienced of the three seniors we’ll have on the team this year and I think she’ll be a vocal leader and can give the others an idea of what it takes to get to state in slow pitch,” said Morgan.