OKLAHOMA CITY -- Last year, after the Florida Gators captured their first softball national championship in program history, I wrote this blog about the remarkable young lady, Heather Braswell, who inspired the team during a fight with cancer she ultimately lost.
Heather, a fixture in the UF clubhouse and dugout for five years, died 10 weeks shy of Hannah Rogers' leading the Gators to the 2014 NCAA crown.
Today's editions of The Daily Oklahoman updated the story one year later. Columnist Jenni Carlson caught up Monday night with Heather's mother, Terri Braswell, who was in Hall of Fame Stadium to see the Gators defeat Michigan 3-2 in Game 1 of the best-of-three championship series. Read her story here.
Those yellow sunflowers in the UF players' hair are worn in Heather's memory.
“Sometimes, it makes me cry,” Terri told the paper on a day where hundreds of fans among the crowd of 8,000-plus wore pink as part of Strikeout Cancer Night. “But it warms my heart that she touched so many. She would just be ecstatic. She would be thrilled with what they're doing. It's making people ask questions, which will hopefully in turn bring awareness.”
In February, Coach Tim Walton (pictured above right with Heather) invited Terri, who lives in Apopka, Fla., to throw out the first pitch of a game. That night, she was presented with a championship pendant engraved with the words “Team Heather.”
There's still a locker in the UF team's dressing room with Heather's name on it.
“And we're never taking it down,” sophomore pitcher Delanie Gourley said after closing out the win over the Wolverines with a stunning display of toughness in her first appearance in the circle in 24 days. “She's always going to be a part of our team."
