- April 17, 2024
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Before their final games at Seabreeze are over, seniors Erika Byrd and Cece Banks hope to make it to regionals.
BY MATT MENCARINI | SPORTS EDITOR
Erika Byrd and Cece Banks are close to closing out their high school careers, and they want to make the most of what’s left.
“I feel like (this season) is more serious,” Byrd said. “When I was younger, I was just kind of going through the motions. Now that it’s the last (season), you can really appreciate it and make sure it’s the best, because it’s the last time you’ll get to do it.”
Byrd and Banks, the only two seniors on the Seabreeze softball team, both said they may try to walk-on in college — Byrd at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and Banks, possibly, at Bethune-Cookman University.
While the end to both of their high school days is looming, the way each of them got to this point is quite different.
Byrd, a contact hitter and the team’s right fielder, has been at Seabreeze for four years. Her coaches say she has gradually improved each season.
“It’s been steady,” coach Tarisa Grimm said of Byrd's improvement. “It was not night and day. It’s just been every year, she’s worked hard, she’s played travel ball. Her sister graduated a couple years ago, also played for us, so she’s been working with her sister and every year. You can see the improvement — every year.”
Banks, the centerfielder, on the other hand, is currently playing her first, and last, season for Seabreeze. She transferred from Calvary Christian but had previously played for Grimm on travel teams.
The addition of a senior, who can slap bunt and has speed in the outfield, has been big for Seabreeze, Grimm said.
When both seniors look back on their days at Seabreeze, no matter how many days there were, it doesn’t take them long to find highlights.
Byrd’s came from her freshman year, when she hit her only home run at Seabreeze.
“I remember when you go and touch home, everyone runs out and hits your helmet and stuff,” she said. “I was just overcome with joy.”
For Banks, it was a diving catch against Deltona, on a ball she didn’t think she had a chance to catch. It was a close call, but she said she sold it well enough.
“We were already losing, but it pumped everybody up,” she said.
Up next for the senior duo is the district tournament. Seabreeze will play Pine Ridge, Wednesday, at Deltona High School. The Lady Sandcrabs beat Pine Ridge twice during the regular season, and if they can make it three times this season, they’ll advance to the district championship and likely play top-seeded Deltona.
“I’m just looking for them to play their game,” Grimm said of Byrd and Banks. “They don’t have to step it up because they’ve already stepped it up. Now they just have to be consistent.”
Seabreeze beat Flagler Palm Coast April 9, which it was the first such win in approximately 10 years, and the first of Grimm’s four years.
“We’re peaking at the right time,” she said. “And that’s because of my seniors.”
