ORANGE BEACH — The Orange Beach community welcomed home their three-time softball state champion Makos during a ceremony at the high school Sunday, May 21.

While the squad was no stranger to the proceedings having won a pair of Class 2A titles before clinching a Class 4A crown in its first try Saturday in Oxford, head coach Shane Alexander said the events have only grown over the years.

“It gets bigger and bigger, the law enforcement picked us up all the way at the Foley Beach Express,” Alexander said Sunday afternoon. “The fire boat was shooting water, then we had a fire engine that led us in and we thought that cool, and then we looked again and it was truck #3.”

The team was welcomed by friends, family and fans before entering the Performing Arts Center where city officials shared remarks recognizing the athletes. Orange Beach Superintendent Randy Wilkes led the ceremony that featured short speeches from Board of Education member Randy McKinney, Principal Michael Lee, Mayor Tony Kennon and City Councilman Jeff Boyd.

After Alexander took over the mic to share some of his thoughts, the Makos’ lone senior on this year’s team, Georgia McDonald, was given the spotlight.

Her message was aimed more at her teammates with whom she shared the last few seasons. While her first season of high school softball came on the JV circuit and was eventually canceled by the COVID-19 pandemic, McDonald said the real fun started in 2021 when Orange Beach played its first varsity schedule.

“These last three years have been the best years of my life. Some of y’all I met this year and some of y’all I’ve known the entire time but y’all will always be my sisters for life,” McDonald said. “I want to thank y’all for always supporting me and supporting each other. These next few years when y’all keep playing, just know I’ll still be there supporting y’all always, just from the stands.”

McDonald was just one of the pieces that helped capture the Makos’ Class 4A crown in their first year competing at that level. However, after both Class 2A titles came on walk-off hits, Saturday’s 5-0 win was much less stressful for Alexander and the coaching staff.

“I felt like last year, stress-wise, was harder than this year to prove that the first year wasn’t a fluke. But this year, we knew they were ready,” Alexander said. “When they lost in regionals, practice that week was like somebody was in trouble. Then that first game we came out and just smashed the ball.”

That pace led to two run-rule victories to open play in the state tournament before eventually resulting in a 49-9 scoring advantage over four contests. Alexander said the team registered a batting average of around .475 with 23 extra-base hits.

With three titles under Orange Beach’s belt in its first three years of varsity competition, the bar has already been set going into 2024.

“We tell them all the time that we have a standard and we’re not going to lower the standard. It’s your job to meet that standard,” Alexander said. “We’ll lose Georgia, but we’ve got some young players coming back and some of those girls have been playing since seventh grade.”

All the while, the Makos have been backed by a strong fanbase that Alexander was appreciative of all over again Sunday afternoon.

“These people are special, the community support has been unreal,” the coach said. “If you’ve been to a home softball game, they pack that place out so it’s unbelievable. It’s a great place to work and coach so I’m glad I’m here.”