By Brad Morris
SportingPumpkin.com
Hard times have a way of bringing people together.
Cara Cooper and her then fellow freshmen had their first school year at Circleville High School cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in the cancellation of softball season.
A year later, Cooper missed her sophomore season recovering from an ACL injury and a very young roster learning to play varsity softball struggled to a four-win season.
The struggle paid off for the Tigers in their last two seasons, winning 35 games and advancing to a district semifinal in both campaigns.
Cooper credited long-time coach Dave Truex with helping to guide the Tigers through those turbulent years to calmer waters.
“Coach Truex meant a lot to all of us players, especially this year’s senior class, because we had been through all of the rough times together,” Cooper said. “We went from not having a freshman season to winning 20 games in our senior year.
“We all knew he cared about us, not just as players but as people, too. He really has an amazing heart and it was the best four years of my lift with him as my coach. He has definitely left a legacy at Circleville.”
Truex retired as the softball coach at Circleville on Monday after 28 years on the job.
After leading the Tigers to 156 baseball wins, seven league championships and a district title, Truex made the transition over to softball and has led his alma mater to a 416-272 record with four district championships, two state tournament appearances and a state runner-up finish.
Truex won his 400th softball game earlier this past season against Pickaway County rival Westfall and reflected on the achievement.
“When you’ve been around this long, it means you’ve been able to work with a lot of good softball players and people over the years,” he said.
Truex considered every team he coached a separate puzzle and enjoyed putting those pieces together before Opening Day.
“It starts by having a good association with the kids, working with them and trying to help them get the most out of their talent and their desire to work and get better,” Truex said. “I’ve been fortunate to coach a lot of good kids over the years and seeing some of them around town years after you have coached them and still talking with them is a blessing. I’ve also been fortunate to have good parents to work with who understood the process.
“Every season, I had the task of putting a team together and I really enjoyed that challenge and thought we did a pretty decent job at it. When you put the puzzle together, it pretty much stayed the same from the first game to the last.”
Truex was recognized late last month for his years of service to Circleville and Pickaway County softball by having the newly created award that will go annually to the county’s most outstanding senior named in his honor.
He was joined at the end by former colleagues he had coached against during his career.
“That’s the other nice thing about coaching is you build friendships with other coaches, and you can call them and talk about softball and other things,” Truex said.
