BROOKSVILLE, FLA --

A leopard doesn’t change its spots.

A Hernando Leopard ?

“Once a Leopard, always a Leopard,” Marcey Lee Abrecht said.

Abrecht and her fellow Leopards proudly don the purple and gold today, just as they did in 1984. That was when they brought home some hefty hardware.

“You don’t go 28-1 without being special and it was the girls,” said Pete Sherwin, an assistant coach on the 1984 team.

Hernando High captured the 1984 state softball championship in dramatic fashion. And they captured the hearts of the community.

“It looked like the entire town of Brooksville was surrounding our field,” Abrecht recalled. “More people than we’ve seen ever at any game. Overwhelming community support.”

“We had a great group of girls,” Sherwin said. “We had a great community. We had great parents. It was just an unreal experience.”

The team reunited recently for their induction into the Hernando High Hall of Fame. Getting the team back together forced a flood of memories.

“Very proud of all of them,” Sherwin said. “I was back in 1984, I still am today.”

They’re still making Coach Sherwin proud because their legacy lives on.

“We’re able to always serve as inspiration for future generations,” Abrecht said.

The Hernando Leopards left their mark. Hernando County’s been a hotbed for some of the best softball in recent years. Coach Sherwin said that talent can be traced back to the 1984 team.

“They set the scale, not only for Hernando High School,” Sherwin said, “but they set the scale for Hernando County and they set the scale for the West Coast of Florida.”

Now they’re living in the Hall of Fame and still posting W’s.

“It gives our team a chance to give back to our school in a way that we can always exemplify to future Hernando Leopards that something that doesn’t happen at other places, it can happen right here and it did happen,” Abrecht said.