PEMBROKE PINES, Fla. – A teenager is being hailed a hero for not allowing herself to fall victim to thieves and helping police track down two suspects.
"When she has her mind set on something, she darts for it to say the least," Charles W. Flanagan Girls Volleyball coach Jesse Ochoa said.
Flanagan Varsity Girls Volleyball captain Caytley Ray said at their last match something spiked her "spidey senses" as some suspicious boys were hovering around the teams' cellphones. Then, in the middle of a close game, they realized their phones had just been swiped.
"One of my players turns to me and says, 'Coach, we need a timeout,' and I am looking a little confused as to why we need a timeout," Ochoa said.
Ray and a teammate then bolted from the gym looking for the thieves, finally seeing one of them across the football field.
"So we ran across the field and jumped the fence, and by then he had already turned the corner, so we kept running and we finally caught up to him," Ray said.
"After she left, the rest of the varsity followed her, and I am left sitting on the court all by myself," Ochoa said. "Next thing you know, I heard she cleared the fence and was chasing these guys down."
So the question is, what was Ray thinking?
"Coach's sprints are really paying off right now," Ray said.
Police arrested two suspects about a half-mile away from the gym. Caytley, or "Caycay," to her teammates, had just served up a little justice.
"We assumed that they would reschedule the game because of what happened," Ray said.
But they didn't. The match went on without Caycay and a few other varsity players, but thankfully they still won.
"You didn't get in trouble with your coach for running off during a game?" asked Local 10 News' Todd Tongen.
"I should have, but no, I didn't," Ray said.
"If you had lost the game, would she be running stars right now?" Tongen asked.
"Probably," Ochoa laughed.
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