HHS grad under contract with pro softball team

HALEYVILLE - Holly Ward is a power house of a pitcher and athlete. The Haleyville High School graduate and former Lions softball pitcher contracted with Scrap Yard this summer to play professional softball.
The Scrap Yard Fast Pitch team is an independent women's professional softball team based in Conroe, Texas, just north of Houston. Established in October 2015 as the Scrap Yard Dawgs, the team played in the National Pro Fastpitch  during the 2016 and 2017 seasons.
Holly began her career at the tender age of three, with tee-ball. Even then, she wanted to be in the circle. “You don’t pitch in tee-ball, but I told my dad I wanted to be in the pitcher circle because my friend, Tori Pendley, was in there,” Holly began.
“I was a terrible  pitcher when I first started. I was really wild,” she laughed. “When I would pitch to the team during practices, because they wouldn’t let me pitch during the games,  my friends Sydney (Kizer) and Alli (O’Rear) would be almost crying before I threw a pitch. They knew I would hit them with the ball. But I wanted to do it because my friends all pitched.”
With time, practice, good coaching and encouragement, Holly developed her skill to where it has brought her today.
“I played on the Haleyville All-Star team when I was eight or nine. Then I played on the Bama Brats and Haleyville Heat travel ball teams.”
She moved to the Lynn Red Storm travel ball team, where several of her Haleyville teammates followed to play with her.
“We played with Lynn for a while, but I started playing with the Birmingham Mustangs. I didn’t want to change teams then, but my dad was like if you want to get noticed and play A-class ball you need to do this.
“I tried out and made the team. I made a whole group of new friends and played in national tournaments. That is when the real traveling began. I was 12 years old then.”
Holly made the Haleyville High School team in the seventh grade. “My mom made me wear a mask because I was 12, pitching to 18-year-olds,” she said. “I played with the junior varsity during tournaments.
She played through her senior year. Her team won two state championships in 2012-13, that being her sophomore and junior years. Her senior year, the Lions were third runners-up in the state, as well.
During this time, she was still on the road with her travel teams. Holly began to think about playing at the collegiate level and decided to change travel teams once more. “I changed to the Tennessee Fury, out of Chattanooga, going into my sophomore year. This gave me a tremendous opportunity to play before college coaches. That is when I started to get recruited.
“My pitching coach at the time was Kerri Foster, out of Birmingham. She was a former pitcher for UAB. “I can remember when I was 16, I would leave school at 3 p.m., stop at the store for a snack and drive to Birmingham for my lesson. I would do agilities and sprint work for an hour and  pitching work for an hour and then drive back home by myself because my parents were working. At one point, I was going twice a week for agilities, trying to get stronger.
“The fall of my sophomore year, my dad and I would go to a camp just about every weekend. I would say we went to just about every SEC camp that was offered. In the spring, I had colleges coming to my softball games at Haleyville. South Carolina, LSU, Florida State and Mississippi State came to the Gulf Shores Tournament  we played in.
“I made several visits to other colleges, but I just fell in love with Mississippi State. My top three choices were LSU, MSU and Florida State. The girls and staff at MSU were so friendly. The coaches were incredible. Vann Stuedeman, MSU’s head coach, was absolutely great! The campus is so beautiful. I loved everything about it. It just felt like a family to me and the campus was closer to home, too.
“I also thought that Vann would be best to help develop me as a pitcher. “Everyone always said I would know when I made the visit and that was true. I did know.
“I ended up committing the next week after the LSU camp to MSU. We were in Denver, Colorado, playing travel ball at the time.
“I technically committed late going into my junior year, but everyone at home thought I was doing it too early. Commitments are usually made early in your high school career if you are being recruited.”
Holly threw about 200 innings her senior season as part of the MSU pitching staff, making several starts.
“The game has really changed,” she noted. “It used to be a pitchers duel, now it is a hitter’s game. You get to see more staff utilized and not just one pitcher.
“My mom always told me that no matter where I am in my pitching, there is someone out there who is better. It is true. That is a motivation for me to work hard and always strive for improvement. I don’t look too far ahead and just focus on what I am doing in the present.”
Holly, in her senior year at MSU, told her head coach she wanted to pursue playing at the professional level. She entered  the draft for the National Pro Fastpitch league.
She was asleep on the MSU sleeper bus on the way back to Starkville from the SEC tournament in Missouri, when the graduate assistant woke her up and told her to check her phone. Holly’s head coach had texted and said Scrap Yard wanted her to play for them.
She ended up signing with the Scrap Yard Dawgs and moved to Houston, Texas. She finished her season in July  and returned to Haleyville, but will be under contract until December of this year.
“This has been a whirlwind and I have loved it. Scrap Yard partnered with the Nationals, which was basically the USA team. I swapped back-and-forth playing for both.”
Holly played with such notable pitchers at Monica Abbott, Carly Hoover, Kylie Hansen, Dallas Escobedo,  and Lauren Haeger.
“I don’t know what will happen as far as my professional playing career,” Holly said. “Evaluations will be in January, but  I would like to continue playing at the pro level. Right now I plan to start back to college at MSU this fall to finish my undergraduate degree in marketing and management. I hopefully will work with the softball team as a student assistant and then as a grad assistant. I have three more years of schooling left.
“I want to coach,” said Holly, “so I will probably go to grad school for sports management or something like that. I do want to coach.
“I got a really awesome opportunity this summer at what is called the Pitching Summit. It is a huge clinic and convention, where pitching coaches come from all over. I went in Vann’s place to talk about softball techniques, etc.
“I told my mom, if I had ever doubted that I wanted to coach, I didn’t after that summit. It was just the best experience. Cat Osterman  spoke there. She is a two-time Olympian. She played for Texas in college and is just phenomenal. Kelsey Dunn, who pitched at Alabama, was there. I was in awe of everyone, soaking up everything like a sponge.”
Holly said she couldn’t thank enough her parents, Kevon and Tracie. “They have sacrificed so much for me. They are my rock and greatest supporters. I knew they would come to every game they could. So many girls don’t have that. I thank them for all the traveling, the getting up at 4 a.m. to drive to a tournament and so much more. It has been years of traveling, money and time. I wouldn’t be where I am without them. My dad has been my catcher for so long. He refuses to catch for me  now, though,” she smiled.
“I can also say that about Haleyville. This community and school have supported me in every way and I am so appreciative.
“I feel this sport will knock you down if you let it, but my parents have been there to pick me up and get me going again.
“I love being able to do this and show young  girls that it doesn’t matter where you are from, even if it is a small town in Northwest Alabama. You just have to work hard. That is all I have done is work hard and keeping going.”