Tessa Gibson is a senior for the Silver Creek Dragons. She has pitched since she was 8-9 years old and she wanted to be different from her sisters who played in the field. She has totaled 189 strikeouts in her career for the Dragons and she has won 13 games. She has posted a 1.79 earned-run average.
SOFTBALL HURLERS HAVE MADE AN ART OF PITCHING.
They use a variety of pitches to keep batters off-balance, making them dance in the box and swing at their offerings.
IU Southeast sophomore Hallie Foley has been pitching since she was 8 years old.
“ I fell love with it and I have loved it ever since,” the Memphis native said.“ I’ m still pitching in college and I still love it. I think I was just thrown into lessons, liked it and I was pretty decent at it, so I have stuck with it.”
She made an impact for the Grenadiers in her first year. The right-hander went 6-4 with a 2.15 earned-run average in 19 appearances, including seven starts. She allowed 26 runs( 18 earned) on 66 hits while walking 13 and striking out 33 over 58 2 / 3 innings.
“ We face a lot of good batters, so every pitch counts,” the Silver Creek graduate said.“ They’ re all good, so you have to be on your‘ A’ game with every single pitch you throw. If you throw one missed pitch, then that’ s the one the girls will be hitting. Every pitch is crucial.”
In between starts, Foley focuses on icing, stretching and staying mobile. In her bullpen sessions, she focuses on her mechanics: getting her body positioned, balancing and working on getting enough spin on the ball.
“ It’ s repetition and repetition, doing the same thing every time,” Foley said.“ And it’ s a lot of mechanics, because there’ s so many little things, and timing that has to be onpoint so you can throw your pitch where you want it.”
According to Foley, pitching in college is more demanding than high school.
“ In college we play a lot of weekend games, but we’ re still throwing throughout the week,” she said.“ There’ s a lot of pitching in practices, as we have a lot of bullpen sessions. Prospective high school pitchers should expect to throw a lot more, and for it to be more intense.”
Floyd Central junior Emmy Miller started playing softball when she was 6 years old. When she began, though, she was behind the plate.
“ I caught only in 8-and-under with machine-pitch back then,” Miller recalled.“ I always liked how( pitchers) were in the middle and I thought I wanted to do it.”
As she got older, Miller would watch college pitchers on television. Her favorite was Montana Fouts, who pitched for the University of Alabama. Miller said Fouts was the reason why she wanted to become a pitcher. Last season, Miller went 23-3 with a
PAGE NO. 8 NEWS AND TRIBUNE SPORTS MAGAZINE MAY / JUNE 2025