MILLPORT, Ala. — Kendra Wilson has heard the story plenty of times.
Five years later, Wilson sighs and smiles when she hears her coach has told it again. As much as the South Lamar High School senior would like to forget it, she can’t help but admit it goes a long way in describing how far she has come as a pitcher.
“She used to get so nervous,” South Lamar High coach Tony Seals said, beginning the story. “She was a seventh-grader, and it was the first game I put her in and she walked the first seven batters. I would not take her out. She used to get so anxious because she wanted to do so well.”
On Friday, Wilson completed the transformation from an anxious seventh-grader to a college-bound high school senior when she signed a scholarship to play for the East Mississippi Community College softball team.
“That was hard,” Wilson said of the walk-filled beginning. “He doesn’t let me quit. That is what I have always liked about him.
“I was tight and I couldn’t relax, but now I am much more relaxed. I did not have the confidence until about 10 grade. Now I do.”
Wilson admits she also wasn’t convinced she wanted to play softball in college. She said she has received offers to play but that she was still uncertain when she discovered EMCC liked what it had seen in her. EMCC assistant coach Casey Finch watched Wilson pitch against Smithville in a tournament earlier this season. Finch then told EMCC head coach Kate Neely she needed to watch Wilson. Neely was impressed with Wilson’s 15-strikeout performance in a 2-1 victory against Class 6A South Panola in eight innings. The two sides talked after the game and arranged for Wilson to visit EMCC.
“We did not know a lot about her (prior to that tournament),” said Neely, who said she knew Seals because he is the husband of former Mississippi State University volleyball coach Tina Seals, who is an instructor at EMCC. “It was a very pleasant surprise.”
Neely said she told Wilson and her family to take a couple of days to decide if EMCC was the right fit. She said Wilson called her back that evening to give her a verbal commitment.
“She should be able to come in and have an immediate impact,” Neely said. “She is really consistent.”
Neely said she liked the fact that Wilson kept her composure prior to the game against South Panola and throughout the action. She said Wilson has good movement and that she liked her screwball and her riseball, and the fact she didn’t see Wilson smile in eight innings. To her, that means Wilson has the focus she needs to take the next step.
Tony Seals said there is no doubt Wilson has that focus. Not only has he seen Wilson pitch through the pain of a stress fracture in her back, he also has watched her set aside anger and frustration and do her job.
“Her work ethic is phenomenal,” Seals said. “She never gave up. She is living her dream right now. I am excited for her because of everything she has went through and how hard she has worked to get to where she is.”
Wilson realized her dream after recovering from a car accident in February 2010 right before the start of the season. She said she totaled her first car in the accident and was hurting all of the time immediately following the incident. Despite going through physical therapy and wearing a back brace, Wilson said she pitched her sophomore season in pain. It wasn’t until she went to the doctor and was diagnosed with a stress fracture that she was forced to take a summer off, her first since she started playing softball.
To make sure she was pain free, Wilson received a nerve block at the end of January before her junior season. She said the procedure allowed her to be pain free that season. This season, she also has been pain free and has emerged as a dominating pitcher.
Seals said he has been able to stay on Wilson because she can take being pushed. He said not all student-athletes are like that, and that gives him confidence she will be able to raise her game to a high level of competition.
“Some kids you can’t push like that, because they don’t have the work ethic, but she does,” Seals said. “She has a great mom and dad (Bonnie and Ken). She is going to do well.”
Wilson agrees and said she now has the confidence to feel like she belongs. She she she initially didn’t think she was good enough to play in college, but her thinking changed after she started to pitch in “big” games as a sophomore and as a junior and had success. The trick now is to build strength and speed and toughness to do be a “big-game pitcher” for EMCC.
“I am going to have to work really hard,” Wilson said. “My daddy has told me ever since the seventh grade that if you have a circle around you on the field you have to work the hardest. That is what I believe.”
After seeing Wilson overcome several obstacles to get to this point, Seals knows she is prepared.
“I even told her I loved her like she was mine because she is hard-headed like I am,” Seals said. “I have told her that. She gets so mad at me that she is crying sometimes. …That is why I love her because she is a competitor. She wants to win.”
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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