BRIDGE CITY — Kids in the Bridge City school district look at Becca Mathews-Peveto as Coach Peveto.

They’ve grown up with her either playing volleyball for her or learning from her in the classroom.

Many of them can’t remember how great of an athlete Peveto was when she played ball for the Lady Cardinals and long-time coach Tom Woolley. They know her as the head volleyball coach of a very successful program that has claimed district titles and a trip to the Class 3A Region III Tournament.

However, fans and long-time members of the community remember her well.

Mathews was a All-District selection in both basketball and softball, All-State in softball and was the 1995 Orange Leader Co-Athlete of the Year with West Orange-Stark’s Raymona Papillion.

It’s been 40 years since the introduction of Title IX — the 1972 federal law that forbids gender discrimination at schools that get federal aid and changed the male-dominated culture of American sports.

When Bridge City added softball to the mix in 1993, Peveto was thrilled with that new, open opportunity.

“We knew it was coming in 1992 and we couldn’t wait for it to get here,” said Peveto. “We knew we had to potential to have some really good teams.”

It may have took until 1993 for Bridge City to get softball, but Peveto and her teammates played the sport from the time they were in elementary school.

“Bridge City is known for its success with its Little League program, it has always been a top-notch organization, whether it was the boys leagues or the girls leagues,” said Peveto. “Then we also had ASA play. We had some great teams there too that played for state championships. We knew, once we had a high school team, we were going to have plenty of talent.”

Of course, it all starts with coaching. The Lady Cardinals certainly received a good one in Tom Woolley.

“Coach Woolley, you couldn’t have asked for a better coach,” said Peveto. “He was coaching girls basketball at the time and I think subvarsity baseball too. A lot of people thought Coach Woolley was biting off more than he could chew, but if you know Coach Woolley, he wasn’t ever afraid of a tough challenge. All of his wins kinda speak for themselves and he really put Bridge City girls athletics on the map for a long nice run in the 1990s.”

Bridge City didn’t have a softball field on campus at the time and the Lady Cardinals had to play their games at the BCLL fields.

“We would hold our practices on the big field across what is now the Bridge City Junior High,” said Peveto. “At the time, there were sewer lines and ditches in that area. It would stink to ‘high heaven’ at times but we always gutted it out. We didn’t have the greatest equipment in the world there at first. We had some old helmets. I was a left-handed catcher but I never used a catcher’s glove, it was just a regular glove, but that’s what I liked.”

It didn’t take the Lady Cardinals long to become a well-oiled machine.

“We used to pick on Coach Woolley all the time, that he was inheriting a good team and we were going to win no matter what,” said Peveto. “That was far from the truth. Coach Woolley always knew where to put us and what decisions to make at the right time. You’ll never meet a person more organized then he was. He had stations set up all over the field for every practice and he worked us out pretty hard. He was such a man for detail and he had a stat for everything. He was literally a ‘stat maniac.’ He would always find the good in everyone. He’s been retired for awhile, but he is still that way today.”

In the early stages of that first season, balls were flying out of the small field that the Lady Cardinals played on, producing several high-scoring games.

“Nothing really could be done at the time to make the field deeper, but it did help a little when they raised the fences up some,” said Peveto. “It was fun though, playing at the fields where we grew up playing on. There would be people everywhere at that park when we played. We would have a game, and then there might be four more Little League games going on around us. It was always a great atmosphere.”

Peveto looks at the Lady Cardinal facility on campus today as a great thing.

“When they first constructed the field we have now, I was kinda in awe of it,” said Peveto. “It would’ve been neat to have played on it. But I still cherish those memories of playing at that old field at the Little League park.”

In 1993, only about half the schools in the Southeast Texas area had softball.

Bridge City, Class 4A back then, competed in a Class 5A district.

“We played teams like Port Neches-Groves and Nederland, who I think were actually in 5A back then and we also played Little Cypress-Mauriceville, Lumberton and West Orange-Stark,” said Peveto. “All of us were kinda starting out fresh. We knew Port Neches and Nederland were going to be tough, especially in those early years because those kids grew up in great Little League programs too. Believe me, softball has come a long way. I remember LC-M not being very good at all in those early years. Look at that program now, they’ve won a state championship (2006) and came close to one again this year. Bridge City has had great runs, so has PN-G and Nederland over the years. WO-S has improved tremendously over the years. When we have get-togethers with some old teammates and rivals, we still like to talk about those old days. We were part of something special because we were the ones that kinda got everything going.”

Woolley certainly had the talent to work with in those first several teams that got everything kick-started.

During that stretch, the Lady Cardinals had a large sum of All-District performers, including the likes of Mathews-Peveto, Holly Theriot, Robin Richard, Stacey McFaddin, Rachel Gunn, Jackie Scales and Jennifer Bramblett.

“I’m not going to lie, we were dang good,” said Peveto. “I think at some point, we were all All-District. We put in a lot of time and effort and Coach Woolley pushed all the right buttons.”

Peveto also has a unique item that she can always carry around with her after she nabbed All-State honors at catcher.

“My Dad, he will still remind me of this today, he will say, ‘Becca, you’re the only athlete in Bridge City’s history to ever make the Class 5A All-State Team,” said Peveto. “I’m like, ‘C’mon Dad, really.’ But when you think about it, it’s pretty funny.”