Close bond drives outfielders

LAKEWOOD RANCH — Denali Schappacher struggles to make it to home plate. With her oversized batting helmet hindering her eyesight, the then 5-year-old bobbles her way into the batter’s box. 

She places a firm grip on her bat, which is nearly as tall as she is, and attempts to keep her eye on the ball. 

After a couple near misses, the sound of aluminum smacking leather ricochets across the diamond. Denali sprints down the first base line with her older sister, Sierra, cheering her on. 

It’s a sight that would play out on the diamond countless times between the two sisters over the next 10 years. 

For the past two years, Denali and Sierra have been a prominent part of the Lakewood Ranch High softball team. And on April 14, the two sisters played their final game together on the diamond. 

After helping lead Lakewood to the No. 1 seed in the Class 7A-District 10 tournament, Denali, a sophomore, and Sierra, a senior, saw their season come to an end with a 6-5 eight-inning loss to rival Braden River in the district semifinals. 

It was the final softball game for Sierra, who helped lead Lakewood to three district titles and a pair of regional championships in her four years with the Lady Mustangs. Sierra opted not to play softball in college and instead focus on getting her doctorate in physical therapy, sports medicine or pediatrics. 

“It will be (different),” Sierra says. “The first couple years I’ll probably regret it. This is something I’ve been doing for 12 years.” 

Sierra started playing when she was 6. It was the first sport she got involved in, and from that point on, she refused to try anything else. Sierra skipped T-ball and went straight to playing 8-Under. 

“I loved playing and I picked it up so well,” Sierra says. “I was confident playing with older kids, and I just loved the fast-paced (nature) of it.” 

Not to be outdone by her sister, Denali would often grab a bat when her father was practicing with Sierra and try her best to hit the ball. 

It wasn’t long before the two sisters were following each other around the base path. Denali often played up a division, allowing the two sisters to play on the same recreational teams. 

“She’s always been pretty good athletically,” Sierra says of Denali. “When we were younger it was annoying. It was kind of frustrating at first having your little sister come up on you, but it paid off because she’s going to (play) in college now.” 

The two spent ample time perfecting their game while playing softball and Wiffle ball in the street with their cousins — three of whom played baseball at Lakewood and four of whom played softball for the Lady Mustangs. There were times when as many as 40 kids would gather at their uncle’s house for a game. 

“It’s awesome having a big family,” Sierra Schappacher says. “I think we love it even more because we were surrounded by it all the time.” 

Denali and Sierra helped lead Lakewood to the regional finals last season. 

In addition to patrolling the outfield together and batting back-to-back in the lineup, Denali and Sierra also spent last season as hitting partners. Whenever one of them would get frustrated or find herself in a slump, the other sister would be the first one to call her out. Frustration would quickly turn to laughter, and at that point all bets were off. 

“That was a mistake on our coach’s part,” Sierra says with a laugh. “We would hit the ball really bad and just kind of goof off.” 

It’s moments such as these that Denali and Sierra cherish, especially now that their time on the  field together has come to an end. Although Sierra has set her glove aside, Denali’s softball career is far from over. 

Denali still has two seasons left with Lakewood and three seasons with the Tampa Mustangs, her travel softball team, before taking her talents to Palm Beach Atlantic University, to which she verbally committed in March. 

“It’s really nice because I have a plan, and I’m finally going to get to play college softball,” says Denali. 

“She’s always 100% of the time the kid who wants to be on the field,” Sierra says of Denali.