The Frisco High School softball team said thank you to some of their biggest fans last week, paying a visit to a Fisher Elementary School kindergarten class that has gone out of their way to support the Lady Raccoons during their current playoff run.
On Wednesday, May 18, the entire Frisco High softball team made a trip over to Fisher to spend some time with Hollie Cunningham’s kindergarten class. For the past few weeks, Mrs. Cunningham’s class has been writing inspirational letters and cards to the Lady Raccoons to wish the girls good luck and cheer them to victory during the playoffs.
Mrs. Cunningham has a direct connection with the team, as her sister-in-law, Senior Cailyn Cunningham, plays second base for the Lady Raccoons. What began as a simple project to wish Cailyn good luck quickly grew into something more. The class initially wrote letters just to Cailyn the week of May 6th as the Lady Raccoons were getting set to play Mesquite Poteet High School in the second round of the playoffs. After Frisco High won that round, the class got so excited that they decided to write letters for each player on the team and the coaches. For the Lady Raccoons’ next playoff game against Wakeland High School, the class made booklet covers for each girl on the team and all 18 kindergarteners wrote letters to each player on the team.
“These letters were very thought out for a kindergartener and just made my heart so happy because they were so inspirational,” said Cunningham.
Additionally, the class made a dance video to send to the team. The kids brought props from home to use in the video, such as hats, sunglasses, toy guitars, boas, etc. They created a “GO FRISCO RACCOONS” poster as the background for the video and danced and sang to the chorus of the song, “We Will Rock You.” At the end of the video, some of the kids offered words of encouragement to the team.
After the Lady Raccoons defeated Wakeland, Frisco High softball coach Tiffany Sullivan emailed Mrs. Cunningham to thank her for everything the class had done so far for the team and to say how much it had meant to all of them. Sullivan then said that she and the team wanted to do something special for the class in return for all their support.
“The girls were in complete awe that these kindergarteners were so thoughtful and sweet, taking so much time for a group of high-schoolers that they didn’t know,” said Sullivan. “My girls really wanted to meet them and thank them in person. Our goal was to be able to meet them and try to make them feel as special as they made us feel.”
So on May 18, the entire softball team and coaching staff visited Mrs. Cunningham’s class for an hour. Each player was assigned one or two students to make goodie bags for that included items such as play dough, bubbles, markers, candy, softballs signed by the team, gloves and books. And all of the kids received a softball poster signed by the whole team. Mrs. Cunningham received gifts as well that included a signed playoff shirt and softball.
The players lined up like they do for introductions at the outset of every game and announced the name of each student. When their name was called, each student ran down the line of players and got high-fives from them. After that, each student took pictures with their assigned softball player and read a book from their book box to the player. The players spent time talking with each student, asking them about their interests and what they want to be when they grow up. The visit concluded with the team performing their “clap out,” which is a tradition during games.
“The day the girls came to visit was one of the best days of the year,” said Cunningham. “My students are at an impressionable age where they are learning so much in kindergarten. They are learning how to read and write and how to solve math problems, as well as working on becoming independent. I feel this experience showed them how important other things can be as well, such as team spirit and being part of something that creates a bond with your team and classmates. My class got to see how close these softball players are and how hard they work together in order to be successful. I am sure my kindergartners will remember this day and it will have an influence on them forever.”
After the visit, the kindergarteners wrote notes to each player to thank them for coming to Fisher. Mrs. Cunningham and her class are currently thinking of more ways to inspire the team as they continue in the playoffs.
Frisco High will take on Lufkin High School this weekend in the Regional Finals round of the playoffs. Game 1 will be Thursday, May 26 at 7pm at Prosper High School. Game 2 will take place Saturday, May 28 at 2pm at Jasper High School in Jasper, TX. Game 3, if necessary, will begin one hour after the conclusion of Game 2.