The U16 Phenix-Fyler team celebrate after another victorious tournament. The team recently won the ASA State Championship held in Junction City June 30-July 2.

When Randy Fyler schedules a practice for his U16 Lawrence Phenix team, it’s hard to know what to expect.

An available field for practice could be the same one as last week or it could be on the other side of town. Fyler may have enough players show up to have a scrimmage or he may not even have enough to fill all the positions in the field. His players might stay focused for the entire two-hour practice or they might horse around.

Regardless of the variables, when it comes time to book a hotel for a weekend tournament, Fyler can count on making reservations for the entire three days.

Thanks to a balanced mix of players, his Phenix team is winning games this summer all over Kansas.

“They’re a nice bunch of kids,” Fyler said. “We’ve got some that are real laid back and we’ve got some that are highly competitive. We’ve got a couple that get down a little bit, so we’ve got some others that are pretty good about pumping them back up.”

Fyler’s team is called the Lawrence Phenix, but is actually made up of players from five high schools that stretch across three counties. Nevertheless, chemistry has never been an issue for the team.

“Softball players are softball players and we can get along with a lot of them,” Anderson County representative Jordan Kruse said.

Although the girls get along well, having players from so many different high schools puts some added pressure on Fyler.

Some of the team members are used to playing the same position as they did on their high school teams, so it’s Fyler’s duty to find a spot that fits each player, whether they’re experienced at the position or not.

In turn, the players must adjust to new roles with new coaches against new competition. A group of girls from Anderson County had arguably the toughest adjustment to make.

Coming from a smaller town, the competition they face with the Phenix is typically stronger than what they saw on their high school team. In addition, they’ve had to find their niche on a team where some of the players have been together since they were 10.

“You learn to adapt because in softball you have to believe in your players,” Anderson County representative Michelle Bowman said. “You can’t go on just saying you’re the heart of the team.”

The U16 Phenix-Fyler team celebrate after another victorious tournament. The team recently won the ASA State Championship held in Junction City June 30-July 2.

As for the Lawrence players, they either attend Lawrence High School or Free State High School, so the high caliber of competition is nothing new to them. They’re also very familiar with each other and the coaches as the core of the team has been together since the girls were 10.

Getting this team to meld took its time, but lately Fyler has noticed the strides his team has made.

The Phenix played in an open tournament in Clay Center a few weeks ago, where they went 3-1 for a third-place finish. In the third-place game, the Phenix defeated the Marysville Magic, 11-0.

The Phenix, which Fyler said classifies itself as a “B” team, played in an open tournament the following weekend in Olathe, which was made up mostly of “A” teams. One “A” team they played was the Olathe Bullets, who were expecting to walk all over the Phenix. Instead, the Phenix came away with a 7-1 victory. The Bullets took exception during the loss and things got pretty heated.

“It was not a very friendly softball game,” Bowman said.

The Phenix eventually lost 4-3 in the finals, but still came away with a second-place finish.

Last weekend the Phenix went 5-1 at the Kansas State Amateur Softball Association tournament and defeated the Great Bend Quicksilver in the finals, 4-1, to take the 16B State Championship.

From here on out, the Phenix will play in the Kansas State American Fastpitch Association and United States Specialty Sports Association tournaments and have qualified for the ASA and AFA National tournaments in McAllen, Texas, and Broken Arrow, Okla., respectively. Due to schedule conflicts, Fyler said his team might only play in the Broken Arrow tournament.

Heading into national tournaments, the team’s goal is to finish in the top five or 10.

“I know there’ll be 50 or more teams playing in nationals,” Fyler said. “If you can be in the top five, that’d be incredible.”

These next few weeks are even more significant for the Phenix because it could be the last time this group of players takes the field together. If the team remains intact for next year, it will have to move up to the U18 division.

For now though, the players aren’t letting thoughts about next season get in the way of what they would like to accomplish this season.

“I don’t really think any of us are thinking about next year yet,” Free State representative Molly Fyler said.

Practices alone have shown coach Fyler that he can’t predict what will happen next week, let alone next year. Instead, he focuses on the task at hand for his team this weekend. He’ll worry about next season, the next tournament, even the next practice when the time comes.

“We’ll see what we see the next couple days,” Fyler said. “We could end up being flat on our face, but I don’t think so. I think we’ll be all right.”