Top softball team is taking on KC invitational, while their coach fights for his life

For months, softball coach James Lamar had envisioned a retreat where his players could bond before competing in the Top Gun Invitational in Kansas City.

Carrying out his plan last weekend, around 40 girls from three teams in Lamar’s Durham, North Carolina-based Lady Dukes travel organization gathered in El Campo, Texas for a four-day training camp.

Unfortunately, their coach was unable to attend.

Lamar’s wishes were fulfilled in his honor, over 1,200 miles from where he lay under careful watch at a Duke University medical facility.

Lamar remains hospitalized due to complications from a heart attack that required emergency surgery and saw him placed on life support on May 30, according to updates shared by his wife Marissa Young on social media, as well as the Lady Dukes’ director of operations Jessica Hurtado.

As of Sunday, he had undergone four additional surgeries and was still sedated and using a breathing tube, per Young on social media. Young is also the head softball coach at Duke University.

In Lamar’s time of need, his softball community is providing support. And with their thoughts and prayers fixed on him, the 18u and 16u national teams Lamar would typically coach will look to further honor him with their play in Kansas City.

“It’s kind of been a rough patch for everybody in the organization and for their 18u team,” said Hurtado. “Collectively, they had a great fall with (Lamar), and then now this. But the girls are staying strong, and they are resilient. And they’re pushing through and they’re playing for him. They’re going to make the best of it.”

Lamar and Young started the Lady Dukes to provide an elite organization for their daughters, Layla, a 2024 Florida commit, and Jolyna, a 2025 prospect. It has since blossomed into a network of over 200 teams across the country.

Lamar’s 18u Gold national team alone boasts 19 Power Five college commits, according to a roster provided by Hurtado. Girls come from Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Texas, Indiana, Michigan and all over, largely due to Lamar’s ability to foster and maintain relationships. Hurtado said she had personally seen Lamar take the time to fly to a city just to meet a player’s family.

“It’s all James Lamar,” said James Burgess, Lamar’s chief assistant on the 18u Gold national team. “He’s the only one who would have the resources to even pull anything like this off. … When you have 200-plus teams from coast to coast, your reach is vast.

“He also runs a lot of camps and clinics all over the country, and so he sees kids and he knows coaches coast to coast, so that’s how I think he’s able to get the kids. And the kids that he gets, they don’t leave (because) he treats them so well.”

Players and their families are reciprocating the kindness Lamar has shown them as his medical battle continues.

Florida-bound pitcher Keagan Rothrock, a three-time Indiana Gatorade Player of the Year on Lamar’s 18u Gold national team, is selling bracelets that say “Always Fight, Every Step of the Way” and “#ALLOFME4JD” in support of her coach.

Rothrock, who played in her final state championship game at Indianapolis’ Roncalli High School last Saturday, blasted a game-tying home run in the bottom of the seventh inning that she later dedicated to Lamar on Twitter.

“Keagan and James have a special relationship,” Hurtado said. “They really bonded. I know Keagan was very emotional over this.”

Stacey Miller, mother of pitcher Olivia Miller, an Ole Miss commit on the 18u Gold national team, also made and is selling beaded bracelets that say “P4J.”

The Lady Dukes collected funds for a meal train for Lamar and Young, as they’ve had many family members and close friends traveling in and out of North Carolina to visit, Hurtado said.

And back at Duke, Blue Devils volunteer assistant coach Nicole Schaffer has started a GoFundMe that has raised over $16,000 with a goal of $25,000 to benefit the family.

“I think that it’s an awesome gesture, and I just think it just goes to show you that when you do a good job and you treat a lot of people right, when it’s your time of need, they’ll hold you down,” Burgess said. “And I think that’s just what you’re seeing. He’s really tried to help a lot of people in a lot of different areas.

“He’s in his moment of crisis and his moment of need, and people are just stepping up — I don’t want to say to repay it, because I don’t think coach Lamar expects anything in return. But people just want to do right by him because he’s done right by them for so long.”

Burgess, whose daughter Amiah is a Duke commit on the 18u Gold national team, will be part of a collective effort to keep the Lady Dukes rolling in Lamar’s absence.

Assistant coach Brent Bubela (daughter Kate committed to North Carolina) lives near El Campo and helped organize the team retreat. Laura Rothrock (Keagan Rothrock’s mother) and Irene Lynch (daughter Jordan committed to Virginia Tech) are also parent-coaches on the Lamar 18u national team.

During the El Campo retreat, the 18u Gold national team shared a meal at a restaurant in Louise, Texas, and unpackaged new EvoShield batting helmets provided through a sponsorship with Wilson. They’re well prepared for the Top Gun Invitational, having all their uniforms and equipment ready to go.

Burgess strongly believes Lamar would still want his teams to play. And with Young’s blessing, they’re carrying on to honor the coach who brought them all together.

“When he wakes up, I’m pretty sure one of the first things he’s gonna say is, ‘How’s the team doing?’” Burgess said. “He’ll be able to look up and see that things were carried out in the way that he planned. So when he returns, it’s business as usual.”