Before every game this season, the Crestview softball lineup is announced and each player runs out to greet Head Coach John Toolan with a high five or a fist bump. When Cambell Toolan’s name is called, she hugs her dad and tells him she loves him.

Any other year, he probably would have told her they couldn’t do that.

• “She did it on the first night,” John Toolan said. “And we’ve done it every game since – it’s special.”

Cambell Toolan is a senior pitcher for the Lady Bulldogs and the daughter of the man coaching her. This is her final season playing for a program they’ve worked to build together, and both of them are soaking in every moment.

Coach John Toolan is in his third year as Crestview’s head coach. By day, he runs Toolan Development, the homebuilding business he and his wife Jeri started in 2004. Both grew up in Crestview, and Jeri comes from a family of builders herself — a third-generation contractor. But softball has always been part of the picture. 

John coached travel ball and women’s softball for more than 25 years, and when his older daughter played at Crestview, he helped build the school’s batting cages. When the head coaching job opened between Cambell’s freshman and sophomore year, the school asked him to apply.

• “I never intended to do it,” he said. “But it needed stability. I thought it needed somebody from Crestview, somebody a little older that could build the program.”

Cambell had opportunities to play elsewhere. But she wanted to stay at Crestview.

“Why would you want to go somewhere where it’s already been done before?” Cambell said. “I want to go somewhere and do something for the first time.”

That decision meant understanding that building a program takes time and patience. John was upfront with her about what that would look like — that it might take a few years for the team to hit its stride, and that Cambell would need to be a big part of helping the group grow together.

This season, it’s starting to come together. The Lady Bulldogs have put together winning streaks, picked up quality victories and competed in games that would have gotten away from them in past years. Cambell has been in the circle for nearly all of it, pitching 58-plus innings across the season as the team’s primary arm.

On the mound, she’s developed a maturity her dad says is unlike any previous season.

• “It’s her understanding that one pitch at a time is the only way you can look at it,” John said. “This year’s been really special. She’s really done a good job so far, and I think it’s because of her maturity.”

That mantra — one pitch at a time — has become a ritual between them. John coaches third base, so the two cross paths between half innings as Cambell heads to the circle and he comes off the field.

“Every inning, all I say is one pitch at a time,” he said. “And she just goes.”

At the plate, Cambell has posted 8 hits and 11 RBIs, including two doubles. She’s shown a willingness to sacrifice her own at-bat for the good of the team, whether it’s laying down a bunt to advance a runner or hitting a fly ball to score one from third.

“I think this year I’m being a little more selfless at the plate,” Cambell said. “I’m trying to win the game.”

As the team’s primary pitcher, managing her workload has been a team effort. On practice days, Cambell spends her time stretching and recovering rather than fielding reps at shortstop, which is where she’d normally be. An assistant coach works with her on maintenance — tens units, red light therapy, icing, cupping and chiropractor visits to keep her arm healthy through back-to-back games.

What stands out to her dad is how the team handles it.

• “The team understands her and the job that she does,” John said. “It’s not that she’s getting out of work but she’s able to do that because of the relationship she’s built with them.”

Cambell has played softball for as long as she can remember, following her older sister and brother to the ball fields. She also competes in weightlifting at Crestview, where she does the snatch and clean and jerk. Off the field, she’s active in her church, where she grew up attending summer camps and seminary. Her favorite subject is U.S. history.

Her biggest athletic influence is a former teammate — Alex Carroll, who caught for Crestview during Cambell’s freshman year and went on to play at Lurleen B. Wallace Community College. Cambell admired the way Carroll competed.

“She was the most gritty person I’ve ever seen,” Cambell said. “She would have like 10-pitch at-bats just because she wasn’t going down. I tried to mimic her.”

Going into the season, John told the team something different. He said he was going to coach Cambell like a dad this year, and asked the group to let them enjoy it.

That dynamic — father and daughter, coach and pitcher — has produced some of the season’s most meaningful moments. They talk on the bus ride home after tough losses. They share a phrase before every game: “I wouldn’t want to go to war with anyone else.”

After Tuesday night’s extra-inning loss to Milton — a game in which Cambell threw 7.1 innings and didn’t allow an earned run — some of her teammates got emotional on the field. She asked if she could address the group. John said yes.

• “She basically told them, ‘Girls, it’s no different than when I give up a grand slam. You don’t have time to get emotional. You have to move on,'” John said. “I thought it was huge.”

Cambell is signed with Northwest Florida State College, where she’ll pitch next year. The Raiders won a national championship, and Cambell said she’s excited to compete and be pushed again.

But right now, her focus is on the rest of this senior season. The Lady Bulldogs have been through every team in their schedule once, and Cambell is ready for the second time around.

“I love being an underdog,” she said. “Crestview softball, we work too dang hard for us not to show what we have. And I think this year, we’ve finally clicked.”

And when it comes to playing for Crestview, that’s never been a question for Cambell.

• “I’ve always wanted to be a Lady Bulldog,” she said. “I want to go somewhere and do something for the first time. Be the team that changes things.”

As for John, he knows the end of this chapter is coming.

“It’s going to be a big void,” he said. “Every time we have a game is one less time that we get to do it.”