When you have a championship winning hit, people take notice.
Quite a few people noticed that Kosciusko sophomore Gracie Williams had the hit that gave the Lady Whippets the 4A softball championship, and they did something about it. They voted her Clarion-Ledger Athlete of the Week.
As one of five nominees in an online election, Williams received nearly half of the votes with 20,073 (47.76 percent). That was more than 4,000 more than runner-up Marshall Phillips, a Sumrall baseball player.
“It’s an honor to be nominated,” William said.
The voting began on Monday and continued until Friday of last week, with Williams maintaining a healthy lead throughout. She followed the voting and by Thursday realized that she would win.
A single by Williams in the bottom of the eighth scored Kathryn Schuler from second to give the Lady Whippets a 10-9 victory over North Pike in the decisive game of the championship series at the USM softball complex.
She had three hits in the game, including a single when Kosciusko rallied for five runs in the seventh to force extra innings, drove in two runs and scored one. For the series, she led all players with seven hits.
“She works so hard,” said coach Tony Terry. “She stays calm and never gets down. That has contributed a lot to her success.”
Williams was confident even when the Lady Whippets faced a five-run deficit entering the seventh. “He (Terry) had already told us that we would win, so I didn’t have much doubt.”
For the season, Williams batted .348 with 31 runs scored and 21 RBIs. Terry noted that she was also a strong defender at third base.
She will play travel ball for the second year this summer for Mississippi Express, a Tupelo-based team and said the experience helped her for the high school season.
Phillips’ nomination resulted from a very similar circumstance. He had a walk off home run that gave Sumrall a 4-3 in the decisive game of a third-round baseball series, also against North Pike.
The other nominees were Tenly Grisham, a softball player for 5A champion Neshoba Central, and baseball players Jon Paul Yates of Tupelo Christian and Jeffrey Ince of Jackson Prep.
