When Charlie Smith took over as first-year head coach for the Winston Academy fast-pitch softball team last season, he did so with some really good young talent.
But that talent was just that – young. Winston had two seniors and a junior on last year’s 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 may actually be younger in some regards, the experience that most of the players had on last year’s 15-13 team did wonders for the program moving forward. WA finished third in MAIS 2-AAA play and played in both the North State and State Tournaments a season ago.
Smith has bigger plans in year two as they continue to build for the future, but he knows the road gets even tougher this year.
“It’s an even bigger challenge this year because the bottom six in the MAIS’ largest classification have moved down with us like Pillow, Magnolia Heights and Washington,” Smith said. “I don’t know how our conference is going to be just yet because I haven’t seen anybody play. I know Starkville Academy got better as the year went on last year and Heritage is returning some good players. Leake is going to be really good again this year and East Rankin joined our district and has one of the best pitchers in the state. It’s going to be competitive.”
For WA to continue to have success, it all starts with its eighth-grade pitcher Whitehead. She played extremely well as just a seventh-grader a season ago when she went 12-10 with a 2.28 earned run average in 19 starts and threw 128.2 innings, struck out 112 batters and walked just 42. On top of that, she was one of the top hitters on the team having hit at a .370 clip with 27 hits, 16 RBIs and six doubles.
Smith wants several options at pitcher and he’ll also use fellow eighth grader Morgan Woods who had nine starts a year ago and struck out 21 batters in 21.0 innings. Whitehead will be his ace, however.
“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.”
Opening week was a good start for the Lady Patriots as they beat Newton County Academy on opening day in Louisville. The first game showed just how youthful this year’s team is again but also gives fans a glimpse of the future.
In game one, Smith started just one senior in Coley Disbrow, two juniors in Emma McCool and Dyshia Jones, one sophomore in Laura Vowell, two freshmen in Madi Lee and Ann Carter Perkins and three eighth graders that consisted of Whitehead, Woods and Mayson Smith.
That group pounded out 15 hits in game one led by Smith’s 3-for-4 day with two RBIs and a double for an 8-0 win. They also had two hits each from Whitehead, Jones, Woods and Perkins to lead the way. The most impressive feat was Whitehead’s work in the circle as the eighth grader hurled a no-hitter with 16 strikeouts.
“We played pretty well for the first week. We made a couple of errors but that’s to be expected in the first couple of games,” Smith said. “Of course, Anna Grace (Whitehead) pitched great in that first game. She struck out 16 and threw a no-hitter so that was pretty special.”
WA couldn’t sweep NCA as they lost 9-7 on Monday’s return game in Decatur to fall to 1-1 on the young season.
The Lady Patriots have the rest of the week off before a busy week is on the way beginning next Monday. They play at Indianola Academy on Monday, at home against Pillow Academy on Tuesday, on the road at Winona Christian Thursday, back home against Oak Hill Friday and then they’ll take part in the Canton Academy Tournament next Saturday to cap off a wild start to the schedule.
