The Fayette County Dragons recently had athletes compete at the State Softball Skills Competition, held on Saturday, Sept. 16 at the William P. Coontz recreation park in Oregon, OH.

The skills consisted of running, fielding, batting, and throwing. Each event was scored on criteria and then added together for a total score. Each athlete must compete in their regions qualifying event in order compete at the state competition. The Dragons had nine softball skills athletes and four of them were able to attend the state competition. The Dragons compete in the South Central region and then athletes that advance can decide if they want to go compete at the state level.

At the state competition, Joe Sousa took first place in the 30 and older division 25, Austin York placed third in the ages 22-29 division 18, and Patrick Wilson finished in third in the ages 8-11 division 11.

Chad Blakeley, Special Olympics Coordinator, spoke about the athletes.

“Chuck Stackhouse placed second at regionals, but later decided that he did not want to participate due to aggravating a knee injury. I am very proud of all the athletes. Joe had his best score of the year. He improved his throwing and hitting from regionals and that was the difference at State.”