FEATURE: Sister Act: How the Lewis Girls Inspired Each Other on the Concord Softball Field

ATHENS -There's a bat, a ball, a backyard and two sisters in West Virginia's eastern panhandle.

The difference in age between Lauren and Lacie Lewis is nearly 10 years, but the dream was the same—to play college softball. And when Lauren started smashing the big neon yellow ball into gaps and over the fence at Concord, the dream and admiration for Lacie began to expand even more.

There was never much question where Lauren would end up playing college softball. And when the elder Lewis sister left Concord after a college visit, she was pretty certain she would be back on the Campus Beautiful for the next four years.  

 "When I left Concord and I was in the car with my mom she said, 'Well, what do you think?' I said, 'There's something there, (Coach Alisa Tasler) has a good idea of what she wants the program to look like,'" Lauren continued.

"To me, that was way more important than anything else. Concord had not been very successful in years prior, so it wasn't something that was drawing me into the school. This seems like a place I wanted to be."

Even though Lauren was more than four hours away from home, Lacie followed Lauren's every swing.

"When we were going to visit her or she was coming home, I was thrilled. It was an adjustment," Lacie said of her sister not being at home every day. "We didn't get to go watch her play as much as we did when she was in high school, and I loved watching her. I was her biggest fan."

Oh, and attending games where Lauren was manning left field or later in her career, center field, were the best times of Lacie's childhood although she only got to about half the games.
"Lacie would know exactly what was happening (during the games)," Lauren said.

"That was way more exciting to me. There are literal videos of her yelling in the stands. I remember my senior year seeing her into the games, it became a little clearer to me that I'm setting this example for her, not just how I'm playing, but how I'm carrying myself on the field."

But through all of Lauren's success on the field, Lacie also lived vicariously through all the other Mountain Lions on the diamond.

"One of her best friends is Alayna (Furr), so I was a huge Alayna fan," Lacie explained. "I rooted for Coach (Alyssa) Morris because I thought it was so cool she could throw a ball to second base from her knees (as the catcher behind home plate)."

"Allie Reid was the pitcher back then, and she was my girl," Lacie said excitedly. "I loved Whitney (Carrigan), I loved Courtney (Purtell)—all of them."

Some may think that when Lauren hung up the softball cleats after 218 career games at Concord and was one of the best to ever grace the diamond in Athens, she began her own fandom and Lacie rose to the role of being idolized. But, that certainly wasn't the case.

"I don't think the roles every got reversed," Lacie said. "We are always each other's biggest cheerleaders. My dad and my mom were there, but I would always go to the field with her.

"Lauren would teach me new things," Lacie explained, recounting her days when she was learning the game. "When I switched to player-pitch ball, she wasn't a pitcher, but she would pitch to me. I don't think there was ever a time where Lauren said, 'ok, I'm your cheerleader now.'"

Though Lauren was never "the cheerleader," she did provide some advice when Lacie started looking into colleges as she was five years removed from play when the idea of following in Lauren's footsteps became a realization for Lacie.

"I told her go somewhere where you can be part of the team right away," Lauren said. "Don't go somewhere where two years go by and you haven't had an opportunity. When she was checking out Concord, I thought Lacie has an opportunity to get on the field right way. That was important for me for her too."

And the old adage goes that big sister knows best.

"I knew what she had to offer. Her freshman year of high school she made JV. I knew there's absolutely no way—knowing the team that was there—that Lacie should be on JV," Lauren said matter-of-factly.

"I was mad about that. Maybe 15 games into the season, they moved her up to varsity which is where she should have been all along. I knew what she had, so I told her go somewhere you can be utilized right away because I know you have what it takes. She works hard, so it's not like she doesn't have talent or doesn't work hard."

Lacie's hard work and talent level paid off in 2022 when she helped lead her high school, Jefferson, to a Class AAA State Championship in West Virginia.

Remember the whole biggest fan thing?

While Lacie was struck with emotion when the final out was recorded in South Charleston, some 300 miles away in Martinsburg, Lauren made sure that everyone at North Middle School, where she is a counselor, knew that Lacie was at the pinnacle of the high school softball world.

"Everyone was watching it," Lauren said. "I told everyone at school, I can't work today. I'm here, but I'm not here. I hope you don't need me today. Everyone was tuned in and watching."

And one of the first phone calls for Lacie? "As soon as I got onto the phone with her, just the smile and yelling and bawling," Lacie remembers that call to Lauren. "For me, it was more excitement. Lauren was proud and excited for me. She was thrilled for her little sister."

Now as Lacie prepares for her senior season at Concord, Lauren has one request for her sister.

"I wish I could slow down time for her, even the fall," Lauren said. "I know it's hard to enjoy the long practices in the fall. Once fall was over my senior year, I knew I had 60 games—that's it. I wanted to take every day as it came."

And as they say time is a thief, but there are a couple more events that the Lewis family can look forward to for the upcoming academic year.

The younger sister is trying to overtake older sister on the home runs list at Concord. After a career season that saw Lacie smash 11 home runs this past spring—just a year removed from a complete knee reconstruction—she is only six home runs shy of passing Lauren for third on the all-time home runs list at Concord.

"I'm not like oh my gosh I need to beat this record," Lacie said.

"I think after last season I just need to enjoy it. To be honest, 11 home runs are the most I've hit in a season (at any level). If it happens again, that would awesome. I'm just looking for base hits, but it would be really cool to beat her record."

While Lacie is focused on putting bat to ball, and getting on base Lauren wants to see Lacie rounding the base on a home run trot

"I hope she breaks it, I really do," Lauren said of her sister surpassing her 25 career home runs. "You set a record for the next person in line to break it—that means you're doing spectacular things. If there's one person I want breaking it, it's my little sister."

Not only is Lacie chasing her sister's home run mark, but she's primed to overtake Jenna Witt, another former Jefferson Cougar and Concord Mountain Lion on the home run list, who ranks second at CU with 29 home runs.

If and when, Lacie breaks Lauren's home run mark, it'll be the second joyous occasion for the Lewis family in an approximate six-month time span. Lauren got the call to the Concord Hall of Fame in May and will be formally inducted in October.

"As soon as she told me the news, I was thrilled and excited. I'm her sister, so I'm biased, but in my humble opinion if there's anyone that deserves it, it's Lauren," Lacie said.

"It's a full circle moment for me. I'll be at school, but our whole family gets to be there to celebrate her. I think this is so deserved. I can't wait to walk into the Carter Center every day and see her plaque and tell everyone that's my sister."

It certainly is a full circle moment for Lacie and Lauren Lewis. A bat. A ball. And two sisters pushing and inspiring each other to be the best softball players they can possibly be.