Abbot Phillip Davey proud of softball program he developed

Abbot Phillip Davey walked into the Louisville Slugger Complex with great pride to watch the St. Bede softball team chase a State championship.

He was the head coach for the program for many years, from its early stages until becoming Abbot in 2011. From being with the program when it was just taking baby steps to take large steps to get to State, he truly had great pride.

“I’m proud of the girls. I’m proud of the coaches. They’ve created a place where (the girls) feel welcome and a part of it and it’s really family,” he said. “And you can just see it by the way they’ve respond to things to what the say. It’s just a great thing to see that.

“They’ve got the kids and the program now I think that’s going to keep being very competitive.”

Softball has been in Davey’s blood having been head coach for the program for parts of five decades, stepping away only when he went away to study for two years and returning until he became Abbot.

“It was a major part of my life until I (became) Abbot. It was always a lot of fun and the girls were great,” he said. “It certainly wasn’t as challenging of a game back then as it now. It’s really impressive to see what they’re doing. They’re hanging together and they care about each other. They work hard. They’re welcoming, encouraging and they hustle like crazy.

“They make it hard and put pressure on the other team. In the two games I’ve seen, only one time where it really hurt them and about 10 times when it helped them. They know what it’s about.”

Bruins head coach Shawn Sons, who got his start on Davey’s coaching staff in 2007, always welcomes Davey’s presence around the team.

“He was and still is an integral part of our softball program,” Sons said. “The years since his retirement from coaching, the girls and our coaching staff love and count on his pregame speeches as well as spiritual guidance.”

St. Bede softball has come a long way from its humble beginnings. It was the first girls sports at the Academy, started 50 years before the State championship. Davey took over as head coach from Father Henry, the school superintendent, and remembers how there wasn’t much to the field that now bears his name.

“The girls laid on the hillside There was no dirt. Just laid bases out there some place,” he said. “When I started, I got a facility and people really embraced that. It was really good to see it evolve.”

One of Davey’s lasting impacts on the program is the Spring trip he started to Tennessee that the girls now make every other year.

“The first time we went down there, we got killed and the guy running the program came out and said, ‘Hey Father, you’ve got great kids, your adults are good, the kids are playing. We’d love to have them here.’ He said, ‘As long as you’re the head coach, you have a place in this tournament. So that was a real tribute to him and the kids and me.

“It was great they went this year. I was supposed to go, but the opportunity (to visit) Sicily came up.”

Davey’s teams never reached State, but they came close, just one step away. He took his 2006 squad to the Class A Sweet 16 in 2006, falling to Westmont 3-1 at the Lisle Supersectional. Along the way, they beat Seneca (4-1) for the Hall Regional championship and Bureau Valley (5-1) and Plano (6-3) at the Plano Sectional.

Night for legends: What a fun night for the Shaw Media Illinois Valley Hall of Fame Thursday. It was another night of legendary sports figures like Bureau County coaches Eric Bryant, Brad Bickett and Bob Prusator and I was humbled to be included. It was especially fun to catch up with the girls from the 1990 State championship Princeton volleyball team. That was my fourth year covering Bureau County volleyball and it seemed like we all took a step back in to time.

Remembering Tom: We lost a good man with the passing of Tom Odell, the principal of Princeton Christian Academy, last week. He was a great man of God and a dear friend. I will always remember Tom for his love of people, kids, his Lord and his contagious belly laugh.

Kevin Hieronymus has been the BCR Sports Editor since 1986. Contact him at khieronymus@bcrnews.com