Year two on the softball diamond for Charlie Smith at Winston Academy was another good experience. The long time baseball coach has taken on the role of coaching both baseball and softball at the school and helping the softball program get back to its glory years as a former state championship team was a priority. The Lady Patriots are building towards that now and doing it with a lot of young talent. Winston had two seniors and a junior on the 2018 roster with the bulk of the lineup built of seventh, eighth and ninth graders. Star pitcher Anna Grace Whitehead performed beyond her years as a seventh grader, but she still was significantly younger than many of her peers. While this year’s team was younger, the experience that most of the players had on last year’s 15-13 team did wonders for the program moving forward. They would improve their record to 16-7 and grew as a team. “It’s was an even bigger challenge this year because the bottom six in the MAIS’ largest classification moved down with us like Pillow, Magnolia Heights and Washington,” Smith said. “In our division, Starkville Academy got better as the year went on last year and Heritage returned some good players. Leake was really good again and East Rankin joined our district and had one of the best pitchers in the state. It was competitive.” Whitehead was critical in the success for the Lady Patriots and will continue to be moving forward. In her eighth grade season in 2019, Whitehead went 15-5 with a 2.03 earned run average throwing four shutouts. She pitched a total of 113.2 innings, struck out 139 batters and walked just 46. The star pitcher can hit, too. She batted .414 this year with 16 RBI, nine doubles and a home run. “She’s bigger, stronger and more mature this year,” Smith said of Whitehead. “She has a tremendous work habit and that “it” factor. No one else has to drive her. She comes self-motivated and does not want to fail. She’s that kid that continuously wants to succeed. If she stays healthy, she’ll be something else by the time she’s 18.” At the plate, the leaders remained the young talent for the Lady Patriots. Eighth graders Mason Smith, Nat Eaves, Whitehead and Morgan Woods were the top four hitters on the team, all batting above .339. Mason led the starters with a .424 average and a team-high 23 RBI she added seven doubles. Eaves had a team-high 27 hits and batted .415 with three triples, two home runs and two doubles. With the loss of just one senior again this year and the majority of the starters set to be freshmen and sophomores, the program is only going to continue an upward trend over the next few years.
