Young softball players from all over Dawson County took the high school field last week to learn from the Lady Tigers.

Hosting its first summer camp in a number of years, the Dawson County High School softball team spent Monday through Thursday training up the next generation of hitters and fielders.

"This is the first time we have done this in a while and the turnout is unbelievable," said Coach Jimmy Pruett.

According to the coaches and booster club, as many as 40 girls participated during the four day camp that ran from 9 a.m. until noon each day.

Participants received t-shirts and instruction from the girls they look up to in the game they love.

The camp was open for girls in kindergarten and up.

"We are trying to cover every aspect of the game-base running, the infield work, outfield work, hitting, bunting, base running," Pruett said. "We are trying to cover everything. We are just putting them into groups and rotating them through stations."

The older girls and those who have been a part of the team took time to bond with and bring along the younger girls even in things like warms up and stretching.

"We do have our players here mentoring, basically coaching these girls. They have all done a great job," Pruett said.

Vice president of the softball booster club Sandy Jenkins said it was an opportunity to have the team get some community service hours in.

Senior third basemen Allie Phillips had girls like 11- year-old Calleigh Lamb hugging on her and going through warm ups together.

"They have been doing really good. It's awesome," Phillips said about the girls at camp.

"We just played a lot of games against each other that helped their accuracy with throwing," she said.

All of the money raised through the camp is going directly back into the program with the coaches contributing their time.

Players and campers alike showed up and worked hard even despite the heat with temperatures averaging in the mid 90s all last week. Everyone made a concerted effort to stay well-hydrated.

"You can get seriously dehydrated out here. It will zap you," Pruett said.

"They are all showing up every day, so I would say yes they are enjoying it."