The 14-and-under Lawrence Phenix-Finucane team, one of six in the Lawrence girls fast pitch league, has persevered through injuries and a brief lack of players to battle back for a winning season.

In a few weeks the team will face some heady competition when they play in the Kansas State softball tournament a national tournament in Blue Springs, Mo., and another national tournament in Park City, Utah.

Phenix head coach Bill Finucane said he has some big goals for the team in their tournament appearances.

“I want to try to have the girls improve as much as they can on the ball field and to also enjoy themselves,” Finucane said. “In the Kansas State tournament coming up I would like for them to finish in the top two or three, and in the national tournament in Blue Springs to finish in the top eight or even top four. These may be some really lofty goals but I think the team is capable of it.”

The team has certainly proved themselves capable in both their tournament and regular season play in Basehor. Finucane said the team has had to compete with the involvement of some players in high school activities since they have moved up in age.

“This year half the team was involved in high school sports, so the challenge has been in making sure we have enough players to compete this year,” Finucane said.

The team also made it back from the brink of three player injuries. Bailey Scott and Allison Hoover both had injured knees, while Anna Mages injured her ankle. Finucane gave credit to Mages because she pitched in the Tiffany Springs tournament June 1718 with a turned in ankle, and the team went on to go undefeated taking home the tournament trophy.

“Our other pitcher was out of town so we had no other choice,” Finucane said. “She really did a fantastic job and we went undefeated through the tournament.”

Through all the challenges the team has battled back to show their strength. Finucane also credited his team for another victory in a seemingly bleak situation in a tournament in early June. Finucane said Phenix played the Stingers team from Missouri, which he said possessed the best pitcher he had eve seen. The Stingers beat Phenix 1-0 in the first round match-up on Saturday evening, but they came back to record the win when they met them later in tournament play.

“Our team worked their way through the losers bracket to beat the Stingers 2-1 in 11 innings,” Finucane said. “It was great to watch the girls rise to the occasion and play good softball and be successful with the fundamentals. It was one of the best games I’ve seen since I have been associated with the team, I was very proud of them.”

Finucane said he is also proud of the girls’ season so far. He reported they have won around 70 percent of their games so far and will play about 60 games this season. In previous years they have played 85-90 games, but will have a shortened season this year because of their late start after Memorial Day.

The teams typically face competition from Kansas City, where they also play a majority of their tournaments as well as Whita and Topeka. Finucane said his favorite experience has been watching the girls improve throughout all the games and teams.

“My favorite times have been watching the girls improve and watching them accept some of the challenges the game presents to them, watching how they handle various challenges in they game and how they do a good job with that,” Finucane said.

Finucane said he can’t wait to see what the girls will do with the rest of the season and how their last few tournaments will end. He looks forward to the team enjoying the rest of the season until it ends on July 29.