Bread winners

Since she was 8, Christina Bread has had the same two coaches: her parents

By Clay Horning

LITTLE AXE — It’s not quite the end.

Because once the fast pitch season is done, Dina Bread will roll out the basketball and her daughter, Christina, will be there again for scoring punch in the middle, lock-down defense in the post and anything else that might be required.

That’s just the way it’s always worked.

And when basketball season ends, it’s time for another softball season. Christina won’t be able to windmill it home as she will today in Hartshorne, where the Indians will try nailing down a berth in the Class 3A state tournament, but she’ll still be playing slowpitch for her dad, Mike Bread, who coaches Little Axe softball no matter the season.

So it’s not quite the end of what started when Christina was 8 years old, the first time she had her parents for coaches, and continues to this day and then for one more semester. But it’s close. Because there’s no time like the fastpitch season, when she plays for both parents, Dina assisting Mike, when you can almost count the time either parent will ever spend without seeing their daughter in minutes rather than hours or days.

And Dina knows it.

“Probably not for her, but it’s going to be an adjustment for me,” she said of next year and the one after that and the one after that. “Just having her around … of course I want her to get out there and explore other options, but she’s been a tremendous daughter.”

And a fantastic athlete.

Kind of like her parents.

Mike was a multi-sport athlete at Norman High and spent some time kicking for the Sooners, though he stayed stuck behind R.D. Lashar on the depth chart.

Dina might have Mike lapped. Because that’s her name, her maiden name, up there on the NHS Wall of Fame next to Denny Price and Dean Blevins and Ron Lynch and John Carroll. Because before Sherri Coale ever coached Stacy Hansmeyer, the last two names added to the wall, there was Dina Little Jim, who owned all the Lady Tiger records before Coale built the monster.



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Dina believes Christina’s the better athlete, period. And if she’s too kind when it comes to the court, she’s couldn’t be more certain on the diamond, where Christina continues to be the eighth-ranked Indians’ No. 1 girl in the circle as well as the batter’s box, hitting .489 in the difficult Sooner conference with three triples, 12 doubles and 30 RBIs.

Asked what kind of a player she is, Mike comes up with an unbelievable and telling stat. Christina has struck out four times in four seasons.

“She’s a difference maker,” he said.

Christina doesn’t speak easily of herself, but she gave it a try.

“I hit the ball pretty well if it’s anywhere from the middle to the outside part of the plate,” she said. “If it’s on the inside part of the plate, if I can get around on it, I can still get a hold of it sometimes.”

There was one time this season she came to the plate with two outs and the bases loaded. She popped out. Mike remembers it so well because it just never happens. He can’t wait for the same situation to arise again.

“I just tell myself to get the job done, everybody else is depending on me,” Christina said of her approach. “I’m a senior this year, so I have to get it done and whatever it takes to get it done, then hopefully, I’ll get it done.”

That’s what she said. But in the moment, there’s not much room for “hopefully.”

“I tell myself that I have to get it done,” she said.

Oklahoma City University is offering an 80 percent scholarship, which is more than most get to play on the small diamond. And others are interested, like Fresno State, Missouri State, even Ivy League Dartmouth, which has to like that she’s No. 1 in her class with a GPA north of 4.0 thanks to a diet of honors courses.

Whatever she decides, her parents believe it will be the right decision.

“She’s very responsible, very accountable, she takes care of herself and makes sure other people are taken care of,” Mike said. “That’s one of the great things about her. Not only does she have the physical ability and she uses it pretty well, she’s also just a really good role model. She’s a really good kid.”

Added Dina, “She’s really reserved and really humble.”

So humble, she makes her parents leave her accomplishments out of the morning announcements.

Little Axe won and Christina knocked in four? Little Axe won and Christina struck out 12?

She’d prefer Little Axe won and the highlights of her teammates.

Unsure what to say about herself, she lights up talking about the rest of the team, which includes a cousin, Paige LittleCharley, and several younger players cut in her image. So many, Mike believes, Indian softball may not miss a beat next season.

As for this season …

“I think we are, I think we can, and I think we should,” Christina said of advancing to the state tournament. “It’s going to take focus, it’s going to take being ready, it’s going to take playing the entire game. You can’t take anybody lightly … We’re diving for balls when we need to. We’re just going all out.”

Sounds like a coach.



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“She’ll be an awesome coach, a great coach,” Mike said.

And she may well give it a try. It might just be the way she stays in the game. Because she wants to stay in the game. She’s just not sure she wants to play anymore.

“I’ve done it for so long,” she said. “I’m just ready for a change I guess.”

She won’t be leaving the diamond or the court because her coaches have been giving her all these breaks through the years.

“If I stunk it up,” she said, “they tell me.”

And maybe not just once, but at dinner, and then breakfast, because that’s part of the deal, too.

So maybe this really is it.

Except for basketball season. And slowpitch season.

Soon enough a very longstanding arrangement will be rearranged.

“I started thinking about it last year,” Dina said.

It won’t be easy, but it should be all right.

“I know,” Christina said, “they’re still going to be there.”

Clay Horning366-3526cfhorning@normantranscript.com

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