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Sherri Paez had a message for her daughters when they were old enough to play softball for her at Glades Day School.
"They were expected to do more," the longtime coach said recently. "Sometimes people say, 'They're playing because they're your daughters.' I always told them they had to be better than everyone else so no one could ever say that."
Carmen and Jessica Paez made certain no one ever said that. Not only were they the best players on the team, they were among the best in Palm Beach County history.
During a four-year stretch in the 2000s, the sisters combined for three small school Player of the Year awards from The Palm Beach Post. Carmen won in 2002, Jessica in 2003 and 2005. In 2004, another Glades Day player, Megan Flannery, earned the honor as the Gators won the county's first state softball championship.
It was an extraordinary run for a small rural school that had built its athletic reputation on football.
"We were playing in the cane fields," Jessica Paez recalled. "We were a small town. It was awesome to see."
The Paez sisters grew up playing sports year-round – volleyball, basketball, softball. Carmen was three grades ahead of Jessica, but they were able to play together for several years because Glades Day, as a K-12 school, allows middle school students to play varsity sports.
When they first played together on their mother's softball team, they often had to alternate between pitcher and catcher because the Gators were lacking in both positions.
"We switched off," Jessica said. "If you were an umpire, you probably got a kick out of us."
Jessica was a freshman when Carmen won the Player of the Year award as a senior in 2002. The Gators fell one step short of the Class 1A state tournament, losing to Hollywood Christian 4-3 in 11 innings in the regional final.
That was the year the sisters helped put girls sports "on the map" at the school, Carmen said.
"Glades Day was mainly a football school, and that year we went to states during volleyball season," she said. "My sister was a setter and I was an outside hitter. We had a really good team. ... Then we won districts in softball but lost in regionals."
In 2003, when Jessica succeeded Carmen as Player of the Year, the season ended with another loss to Hollywood Christian in the regional final. But the Gators broke through the next year, defeating Tampa-Cambridge 3-2 in the Class 1A title game, with Flannery pitching a complete game. The seniors had to miss their own graduation to play in the state tournament, Sherri Paez recalls.
Jessica won her second Player of the Year honor in 2005 as the Gators, now in Class 2A, bowed out in the regional semifinals.
After graduation, Carmen accepted a scholarship to Indian River State College, where she excelled for two years before her career took a sharp turn. She was planning to transfer to Florida Atlantic when she found out she was pregnant. She dropped out of school and returned to Belle Glade to care for her newborn son.
"My focus wasn't on softball at all after having my son," Carmen said. "I did help out coaching at Glades Day – volleyball, basketball, softball – and I thought maybe I'll just follow in my mom's footsteps. And I was comfortable with that."
Two years later, though, she received a call from Florida Gulf Coast coach David Deiros. He was looking for a power hitter and Carmen's former coach at Indian River, Dale Atkinson, had recommended her.
"He said, 'Hey, coach Dale brought up your name, would you be interested in playing?'" Carmen said. "I said, 'I'm really out of shape, I had a son, I still haven't even passed my associate's degree.' And he said, 'Well, if you pass your associate's, you've got a full ride waiting for you.'"
Carmen went back to school to get her associate's degree. She began a rigorous training routine that included running through the cane fields, running up and down the Herbert Hoover Dike surrounding Lake Okeechobee, and hitting buckets of baseballs with her father. "It just came back to the old days," she said.
And when she arrived in Fort Myers, she started writing her name into the FGCU record books.
In 2007, playing softball for the first time in three years, she hit a school-record 28 home runs, drove in 80 runs and batted .434. The Eagles finished 62-8 and Carmen was named national Division II Player of the Year.
Florida Gulf Coast moved up to Division I the following year, and Carmen easily handled the transition. She homered against Tennessee in an early-season tournament and finished with 22 home runs, 68 RBIs and a .425 batting average.
Carmen holds school records for career batting average (.430), slugging percentage (.934) and on-base percentage (.587). She ranks second in career home runs, third in walks and fifth in RBIs despite playing only two seasons. Deiros calls her "the best pure hitter to ever wear the green and blue."
Jessica played for Santa Fe State College in Gainesville for two seasons, then passed up other Division I offers to join her sister at Florida Gulf Coast. "I said, 'Let's do this one more time,'" she said.
Six years after they last played together at Glades Day, the sisters reunited for one final season. In 2008, with Jessica leading off and Carmen batting third, the Eagles finished 48-16 in their first season in Division I.
Jessica had a stellar two-year career with the Eagles, making all-conference both seasons and batting .333 with a total of 26 home runs, 108 RBIs and 28 stolen bases.
Two decades after their mini dynasty at Glades Day, the Paez sisters have gone their separate ways, though both are working in health care as ER nurses.
Carmen played one season of professional softball in Massachusetts, where she met her current husband. They moved to Florida seven years ago and are raising three children in Port Charlotte. Carmen was inducted into the Florida College System Hall of Fame this year, following earlier Hall of Fame recognition from Indian River State, Florida Gulf Coast and the ASUN Conference.
Jessica passed up a chance to play professional softball overseas. "I was ready to work," she said. She lives in Knoxville, Tennessee, with her husband and 1-year-old son.
Sherri Paez retired as Glades Day's coach in 2022 and now lives in Cape Coral. She had a successful 24-year career, taking four more teams to the state tournament (2008, 2015, 2017, 2019), but her years with her daughters will be the ones she remembers most. To this day, that softball banner hanging in the Glades Day gym represents the school's only girls state championship.
"I don't think it'll ever be the same," Jessica Paez said.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Glades Day's Paez family blazed trail for softball in Palm Beach
Continue reading...
"They were expected to do more," the longtime coach said recently. "Sometimes people say, 'They're playing because they're your daughters.' I always told them they had to be better than everyone else so no one could ever say that."
Carmen and Jessica Paez made certain no one ever said that. Not only were they the best players on the team, they were among the best in Palm Beach County history.
During a four-year stretch in the 2000s, the sisters combined for three small school Player of the Year awards from The Palm Beach Post. Carmen won in 2002, Jessica in 2003 and 2005. In 2004, another Glades Day player, Megan Flannery, earned the honor as the Gators won the county's first state softball championship.
It was an extraordinary run for a small rural school that had built its athletic reputation on football.
"We were playing in the cane fields," Jessica Paez recalled. "We were a small town. It was awesome to see."
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The Paez sisters grew up playing sports year-round – volleyball, basketball, softball. Carmen was three grades ahead of Jessica, but they were able to play together for several years because Glades Day, as a K-12 school, allows middle school students to play varsity sports.
When they first played together on their mother's softball team, they often had to alternate between pitcher and catcher because the Gators were lacking in both positions.
"We switched off," Jessica said. "If you were an umpire, you probably got a kick out of us."
Jessica was a freshman when Carmen won the Player of the Year award as a senior in 2002. The Gators fell one step short of the Class 1A state tournament, losing to Hollywood Christian 4-3 in 11 innings in the regional final.
That was the year the sisters helped put girls sports "on the map" at the school, Carmen said.
"Glades Day was mainly a football school, and that year we went to states during volleyball season," she said. "My sister was a setter and I was an outside hitter. We had a really good team. ... Then we won districts in softball but lost in regionals."
In 2003, when Jessica succeeded Carmen as Player of the Year, the season ended with another loss to Hollywood Christian in the regional final. But the Gators broke through the next year, defeating Tampa-Cambridge 3-2 in the Class 1A title game, with Flannery pitching a complete game. The seniors had to miss their own graduation to play in the state tournament, Sherri Paez recalls.
Jessica won her second Player of the Year honor in 2005 as the Gators, now in Class 2A, bowed out in the regional semifinals.
After graduation, Carmen accepted a scholarship to Indian River State College, where she excelled for two years before her career took a sharp turn. She was planning to transfer to Florida Atlantic when she found out she was pregnant. She dropped out of school and returned to Belle Glade to care for her newborn son.
"My focus wasn't on softball at all after having my son," Carmen said. "I did help out coaching at Glades Day – volleyball, basketball, softball – and I thought maybe I'll just follow in my mom's footsteps. And I was comfortable with that."
Two years later, though, she received a call from Florida Gulf Coast coach David Deiros. He was looking for a power hitter and Carmen's former coach at Indian River, Dale Atkinson, had recommended her.
"He said, 'Hey, coach Dale brought up your name, would you be interested in playing?'" Carmen said. "I said, 'I'm really out of shape, I had a son, I still haven't even passed my associate's degree.' And he said, 'Well, if you pass your associate's, you've got a full ride waiting for you.'"
Carmen went back to school to get her associate's degree. She began a rigorous training routine that included running through the cane fields, running up and down the Herbert Hoover Dike surrounding Lake Okeechobee, and hitting buckets of baseballs with her father. "It just came back to the old days," she said.
And when she arrived in Fort Myers, she started writing her name into the FGCU record books.
In 2007, playing softball for the first time in three years, she hit a school-record 28 home runs, drove in 80 runs and batted .434. The Eagles finished 62-8 and Carmen was named national Division II Player of the Year.
Florida Gulf Coast moved up to Division I the following year, and Carmen easily handled the transition. She homered against Tennessee in an early-season tournament and finished with 22 home runs, 68 RBIs and a .425 batting average.
Carmen holds school records for career batting average (.430), slugging percentage (.934) and on-base percentage (.587). She ranks second in career home runs, third in walks and fifth in RBIs despite playing only two seasons. Deiros calls her "the best pure hitter to ever wear the green and blue."
Jessica played for Santa Fe State College in Gainesville for two seasons, then passed up other Division I offers to join her sister at Florida Gulf Coast. "I said, 'Let's do this one more time,'" she said.
Six years after they last played together at Glades Day, the sisters reunited for one final season. In 2008, with Jessica leading off and Carmen batting third, the Eagles finished 48-16 in their first season in Division I.
Jessica had a stellar two-year career with the Eagles, making all-conference both seasons and batting .333 with a total of 26 home runs, 108 RBIs and 28 stolen bases.
Two decades after their mini dynasty at Glades Day, the Paez sisters have gone their separate ways, though both are working in health care as ER nurses.
Carmen played one season of professional softball in Massachusetts, where she met her current husband. They moved to Florida seven years ago and are raising three children in Port Charlotte. Carmen was inducted into the Florida College System Hall of Fame this year, following earlier Hall of Fame recognition from Indian River State, Florida Gulf Coast and the ASUN Conference.
Jessica passed up a chance to play professional softball overseas. "I was ready to work," she said. She lives in Knoxville, Tennessee, with her husband and 1-year-old son.
Sherri Paez retired as Glades Day's coach in 2022 and now lives in Cape Coral. She had a successful 24-year career, taking four more teams to the state tournament (2008, 2015, 2017, 2019), but her years with her daughters will be the ones she remembers most. To this day, that softball banner hanging in the Glades Day gym represents the school's only girls state championship.
"I don't think it'll ever be the same," Jessica Paez said.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Glades Day's Paez family blazed trail for softball in Palm Beach
Continue reading...
