Ryan Pritt, Charleston Gazette-Mail, for the West Virginia Sports Writers Association
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — If opposing pitchers could find a way to make Hurricane’s Katie Adams hit from behind a podium, they may have more success.
Addressing a full room with an acceptance speech for the 2016 Rachel E. Taylor award, given to the state’s top softball player, at the Victory Awards Dinner in Clarksburg on May 21 was about the only time this year the Redskins senior pitcher/catcher looked uncomfortable.
Fortunately, and maybe unfortunately for Adams’ fear of public speaking, she’ll have to give that speech again next year.
Adams produced an even bigger offensive season in this her senior year, provided a solid second option in the circle and embraced the role as a senior leader in earning the award again as selected by the West Virginia Sports Writers Association.
Her first award-winning season ended a year ago the same way the one before it and the one after it did — with a state championship. Adams was the workhorse, going 29-4 in the circle while hurling and hitting Hurricane to a second straight title.
In winning a third state title in a row this year, Adams yielded much of that pitching responsibility to freshman Harlie Vannatter while providing a calming presence from behind the plate in helping the freshman turn in an eventual first-team all-state season.
And while Vannatter was rolling, so was Adams, who improved her batting average from 2016 by 127 points in 2017 to finish at .573. She tied with leadoff hitter Kiersten Landers for the team and Kanawha Valley lead. She added seven home runs, two of which came in the state tournament, with 18 doubles and 61 RBIs.
“[In the offseason] I worked on making my at-bats higher-quality at-bats,” Adams explained. “With my approach at the plate, I wanted to make sure I was swinging at good pitches. If I can tie in average with Kiersten, then we’ve done some good things for sure.”
Adams put quite the exclamation point on a prolific prep career, going a combined 6 for 8 with two home runs (one of which was a grand slam) and driving in 10 runs for a Hurricane team that put on one of the most dominant performances in any state tournament in state history. The Redskins won each of their three games by the mercy rule in five innings, with eight players hitting .500 or better.
“All of us knew going into it that there was no way we were going to lose,” Adams said. “We had too much experience. Now, I didn’t expect to go in and make quick work of every team we played in the state tournament. Looking back, it was very short. We didn’t play a full game. It went by really fast.”
Adams and her teammates were certainly used to winning and they got used to it early in her career, led by great players in front of her that helped set the tone Adams would follow in years to come.
She and fellow senior Paige Scruggs ended each of their final three seasons with state titles, but Adams said each of those journeys couldn’t have been any more different.
“I’ll definitely remember us killing every team in the state tournament my senior year,” Adams said. “But every year has been a different experience. My sophomore year it was more of Courtney and Maddie Casto’s state tournament to win. Last year, people didn’t expect us to be as good as we were because of how much we lost. This year was more of mine and Paige’s year.”
In reality, it was a little more than that, with a lineup top to bottom that was clicking on all cylinders throughout the postseason.
Certainly Adams’ place in between first-team infielder Jayme Bailey and second-team infielder Caiti Mathes, with first-teamer Landers leading off and Scruggs, a second-team all-state selection, hitting fifth, was beneficial in piling up the gaudy numbers.
“That’s what we always say, I’d hate to pitch to our lineup — I’d hate to play us,” Adams said. “Other teams don’t want to pitch to us and if I was someone on another team, I wouldn’t want to either.”
More than just their skills fitting together, the personalities of each player on the team helped breed a level of success even lofty by Hurricane standards. The team finished 36-1 record, with an extra-inning loss to Huntington as the only blemish on the ledger.
Much of that started at the top with Scruggs’ constant uplifting personality, Bailey’s unyielding energy and intensity and Adams’ steady presence.
“I was a leader my junior year, but I think this year more than ever people looked at me, [junior third baseman] Jayme [Bailey] and [senior outfielder] Paige [Scruggs] to be leaders and we took on that role,” Adams explained.
Adams will continue her career at Marshall next year, stepping into a program that is peaking much like the one she entered four years ago as a freshman at Hurricane.
Where she will slot in has yet to be decided, and pitching is certainly still on the table as she finished 12-0 with a 1.89 ERA in limited action this season.
But no matter what, Adams said she will continue to have a presence in Hurricane much like the graduated players before her, several of which came back to the field for a group picture after the Redskins’ Region 4-clinching win over Parkersburg.
“I’ll definitely still be around when the season is over at Marshall,” Adams said. “We have such a great program and our seniors always come back. Our team has such good team chemistry and people want to come back and see how the team is doing.
“I hope I’m in Vienna next year watching them. If they’re not there, something has gone terribly wrong.”
West Virginia Sports Writers Association State Softball Player of the Year Winners
2017 — Katie Adams, Hurricane
2016 — Katie Adams, Hurricane
2015 — Ali Burdette, Buffalo
2014 — Allison Rager, Herbert Hoover
2013 — Courtney Rogers, Hurricane
2012 — Allison DeLancey, Ritchie County
2011 — Allison DeLancey, Ritchie County
2010 — Samantha Snodgrass, St. Albans
2009 — Andi Williamson, Chapmanville
2008 — Alli Mayle, East Fairmont
2007 — Alli Mayle, East Fairmont
2006 — Margaret Osborne, St. Albans