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Brooke King the reason

The McIntosh Lady Chiefs softball team appears to be a force

to be reckoned with. They are 11 and 1 and winners of the

Sandy Creek Shoot-out, a softball tournament featuring 11 other

high school teams from Georgia. If you go searching for the

reason behind McIntosh's recent success, one name will keep popping

up, Brooke King.

King is a junior, who was born in Georgia and has lived in

many cities around the world since. Her father was in the army, so

the King's have lived on bases from Virginia to Germany. The

family moved back to Georgia after he retired and Brooke moved in

to McIntosh, to set up camp on the diamond. Brooke has been an

avid baseball and softball fan her whole life. When asked about good

collegiate programs, she can rattle off a list of the top programs

on both coasts. She would like to play in college but she feels it's

a ways away, right now.

She said that her favorite professional baseball player is

Greg Maddux. That is apparent both on and off the field. While

Brooke can zing the ball in there at about 59 mph, her focus and

strength, like Maddux's, is location, location, location. This is

Brooke's third year pitching for the varsity squad. She is 7-1 with a 1.08

ERA and 60 strikeouts. She has given up 25 hits and walked only 7 in

52 innings pitched. Those are great numbers, but Brooke is the first

to give credit to the rest of her team.

"The defense has been excellent and we've been hitting

the ball really well, with lots of power. Sabrina (McCord) has been

catching me this season and calling great pitch sequences,"

Brooke reports, never stepping forward to take the acclaim, much like

her hero in Atlanta." I try to not give in to hitters. If they do hit it, I

want it to be the worst hit possible, so I'll pitch it low and

outside," Brooke says. "I love the

outside corner."

Brooke also gives credit to her coach, Coach Kidd. He was

coaching the team when they still played slow pitch softball and has

since formed a squad that is competitive in fast pitch. A key to

his success may be the excellent physical condition of the

team. The baserunners are quick to capitalize on their opponents

fielding mistakes, inevitably putting runs on the scoreboard. The more

run support that King has, the less likely a team will get back in

the game

It is obviously working. In the Sandy Creek Shoot-out,

King pitched 33 innings over 7 games and struck out 37, earning 6

wins and a save. These accomplishments tend to get glazed over because

it isn't baseball and because the competition may not be of the

highest caliber. Brooke deserves it though and she will earn it. A good

student and class president, Brooke seems to realize the value of her

achievements. She is energetic and excited about her team's chances this

year and is proud of what she has accomplished so far. You get the

feeling though, that while she knows she's doing great now, she also knows

an even greater moment lies ahead.

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