By RICK ELMORE
Gazette-Mail
Winfield softball pitcher Mattie Carroll is a winner – again.
After capping her junior season by leading the Generals to their third consecutive state championship, Carroll was named by the West Virginia Sports Writers Association as the Player of the Year on Friday.
Carroll was a second-team all-state selection last season after leading Winfield to the Class AA state championship, but a dominant performance in the state tournament this season – the Generals’ first as a Class AAA team – gave her an edge in the selection.
Winfield coach Steve Hensley put Carroll in the pitcher’s circle in each of the Generals’ state tournament games and won each of them, including the championship game over Frankfort, 2-1.
“Mattie is 6-0 in the last two state tournaments,” Hensley said. “Pretty impressive for sure.”
Carroll was named captain of the Class AAA all-state first team, a list that included her Generals teammates Evie Loyd and Kenlie Zigmond.
During Winfield’s 29-7 season, Carroll pitched 179 1/3 innings. She had a 1.17 ERA with 213 strikeouts. Carroll also stranded 117 opposing teams’ runners on base.
Carroll was effective at the plate too, batting 38 for 106 for a .358 average, with 11 doubles and a team-high 30 RBIs. Carroll had one home run this season.
Lincoln County softball coach Tommy Barrett faced Winfield twice during the season, with the Panthers splitting the results with Winfield with Carroll in the circle for each game.
Barrett said the spin Carroll puts on the ball makes her rise ball and changeup combination tough to hit. She also hits her spots, making it difficult for even the best hitters to be effective against Carroll.
“Mattie doesn’t miss by feet,” Barrett said. “She misses by inches.”
To combat Carroll, Barrett said he prepared Lincoln County’s hitters for the spin on the ball. Moving batters around inside the batter’s box won’t work.
In their two games against Winfield, the Panthers faced Carroll each time, and in each contest, she tossed a complete game. In the first one, Carroll struck out 12 while allowing three hits to Lincoln County, while a Zigmond three-run homer provided all the offense the Generals needed.
In the second game, on April 18, Lincoln County got eight hits against Carroll and scored a run in the bottom of the eighth inning to walk off in a 1-0 win over Winfield in Hamlin.
Carroll had a combined 19 strikeouts in the two games against the Panthers.
In the championship game win over Frankfort, Carroll struck out 12 Falcons while allowing an earned run on four hits.
Frankfort’s pair of first-team all-state selections, Avery Noel and Rylee Mangold, combined to go 0 for 6 against Carroll.
After that win, Carroll said that she just wanted to keep Falcons hitters off-balance.
“[I] threw a lot of changeups today, and a lot of fast stuff, and I think it worked really well,” Carroll said. “Stayed out of the zone and got them to chase through rise balls. I was just confident, and you have to have that against a good team like that or it’s not going to go your way.”
Hensley said Carroll’s maturity shows the most in games in which the score might be close and the stakes are the highest.
“Her demeanor in those times says a lot about her,” Hensley said.
Cabell Midland pitcher Drea Watts, who was selected as the Class AAAA first-team captain after leading the Knights to a state championship, was also considered for the award.
