With a bit of misdirection on numbers, Emma Leath was truly surprised to learn that she passed Sydney Nester on the all-time pitching wins in the history of Carroll County High School. Nester ended her stellar career with 55 total victories and 694 strike outs.
Leath is as driven as anyone that has wore the colors on The Hill and her Head Coach Rick Nester was trying hard to protect his senior from mental overload down the stretch of her final season.
The chase for the career strikeout total has been very public and when you add that to trying to be one of two senior (along with Katherine Lindamood) leaders on a roster full of freshman and sophomores, you can see the cause for concern.
The topic of how surprised Leath was at the postgame gathering Thursday night after the brief team celebration following the 57th victory over Floyd County came to light.
“I was caught totally off-guard by the news that I broke the school record for wins,” Leath said. “I have to thank Coach Nester, Coach Tobler and the defenses that have had my back the last four years. It is shown as an individual accomplishment but the wins belong to all of us. We still have a few more to add!”
Leath was limited in opportunities in her freshman year due to COVID cutting a number of games out of the schedule but she has made up for lost time ever since. The Maddux comparison is spot on as the “Professor” was also extremely undersized and had to rely upon his location in winning 300-plus Major League Baseball games over his career. Leath weighs in just over 100 pounds and when you see her head to the pitching circle it might be easy to chuckle at the thought of her having the ability to dominate the game the way she does.
It’s not just one opinion of the Maddux/Leath duo as Coach Nester also made the reference when asked to describe his four-year pitcher.
“Congratulations to an awesome young lady that has devoted so much time and effort into becoming one of the best athletes, not only in Carroll County/Southwest Virginia, but the state of Virginia,” said Nester. “I consider her to be the hall of fame Greg Maddux of softball. THE GIRL CAN PITCH!!! Just an example of this was displayed tonight! The bottom of the 7th with the tying run at second and the winning run at the plate, she battles to come back from a 3-1 count and strikes out the batter looking for the final out of the game on a change up! Before she threw the pitch, I told Coach Tobler that this is the game! Way to go Miss Emma Leath!”
The tag line for Maddux was “Looks like an Accountant, Pitches like an Assassin” so maybe a comparable line about Leath would sound like, “Looks like she might should be playing with dolls, pitches like she’s after your Lunch Money.”
The Lady Cavaliers now have six remaining regular season games left ahead of a possible 1 vs. 2 District Championship game, and then regional play. Leath now sits at 57 wins and 653 strikeouts, leaving her 42 shy of the second of the two records with six to a possible dozen games left. There’s no telling where the two final numbers will land but we can all hope its the state tournament before we find out.
The next time the numbers can increase will be April 30 at James River and the team will celebrate the milestone next May 3 with the home crowd.
Most Popular
Comments / 0