There’s a lot of preparation a team needs to go through in the days before the playoffs begin.

For the Demopolis High School softball team, as they prepare to host Jemison in the first Sub-State round, most of that had already been taken care of.

Head coach Joey Browder said the team just did some basic drills Monday afternoon, and then the Lady Tigers helped him get the field ready for company.

“We’ve been working on basics all year long,” Browder said, during a break from cutting the outfield grass. “We haven’t changed anything all year. We just want to get better at doing what we do.”

The team is in great shape – mentally and physically – to take on Jemison, he said. With the final four members of 2003’s state champion Lady Tigers team set to graduate in May, Browder said motivation wasn’t

an issue he needed to handle.

“Our four seniors (Dorothy Knapp, India Chancellor, Hunter Lewis and Molly Copeland) definitely don’t want their last ballgame to be tomorrow night,” Browder said. “That kind of leadership is catching.

That Demopolis team lost in the first round of the state tourney, yet still battled through the consolation bracket to bring home the hardware.

“They definitely know what it takes, what kinda stamina it takes, both physical and mental,” Browder said of his seniors. “We hope that’ll carry over to the rest of them.”

Jemison will take the field against the Lady Tigers this afternoon at 2 p.m. Though Browder didn’t know the Panthers’ exact record, they went 0-4 against No. 2 Bibb County, losing by a combined 37-5.

It will be a best of three contest, with a short break between each game.

“They know it’s put up or shut up now,” Browder said. “To stay alive, you’ve got to win.”