Gracie McCleskey doesn’t mind getting down and dirty.
Whether it is as a member of the Caledonia High School volleyball, basketball, or fast-pitch softball teams or the Mississippi Bombers Express travel team, McCleskey is going to do what it takes to help her team win.
That competitive fire has helped her mature into a team leader who sets the example for her teammates and plays whatever role is needed.
On Friday, McCleskey’s hard work paid off as she signed a National Letter of Intent to play softball at Jones County Junior College in Ellisville.
“I visited a couple of other schools, but when I went there that was where I knew I wanted to go,” McCleskey said. “I fell in love with the whole deal.”
McCleskey has been a standout in multiple sports at Caledonia High. Earlier this season, she was a starter and a team captain on the volleyball team that advanced to the second round of the Class II playoffs. She also has been a key contributor on the girls basketball team and on the school’s fast-pitch softball team.
McCleskey first started for the Lady Confederates as an eighth-grader. She hit better than .300 as an eighth-grader and as a freshman. She has hit better than .400 in each of the last two seasons, and has led the team in stolen bases in that time.
McCleskey also was selected as a junior to play in the Mississippi Association of Coaches All-Star game.
McCleskey has continued to work hard in the offseason, too, as a member of the Mississippi Bombers Express, a team based out of Tupelo, for the past three years. This past season, McCleskey led the team in home runs, triples, and stolen bases.
Robin Elmore coached McCleskey in softball from her seventh grade through her sophomore year. She said McCleskey doesn’t mind “getting down in the dirt” because she is a competitive player who loves to win at everything she does.
“She is a sweet, humble girl who has a work ethic and a competitiveness that would be any coach’s dream to coach,” Elmore said. “She is very self-motivated. A lot of kids you have to push to kind of drive them to be better. She has that drive. She wants to be the best.”
Elmore said that drive helped McCleskey learn how to adjust from slow-pitch softball to the fast-pitch game after she moved from Meridian to Caledonia. She said McCleskey knew the fundamentals of how to play softball and has continued to push herself in all areas of the game.
Caledonia High volleyball coach Samantha Brooks saw the same qualities in McCleskey when she played on the school’s volleyball team as a freshman, for part of her sophomore year, and as a senior earlier this year.
“She is a leader on and off the court,” Brooks said. “She is completely dedicated to playing sports. She is always at practice and always on time and involved and invested in sports.
“She is just a really likable kid. She is very coachable, very respectful, and not a selfish person. She is a team person. She is harder on herself than anybody could be. She has goals and really works to attain them. She has that personality the younger girls look up to her and like her. She is fun and just a really likable person.”
McCleskey credited Tony Knight, her travel ball coach, for helping her set up recruiting profiles and for sending out videos of her to schools. She said the coaches at Jones County J.C. liked what they saw on the videos and then saw her at an exposure camp at Mississippi Gulf Coast C.C. and invited her to visit the school. She said it didn’t take her long to make a verbal commitment to attend JCJC.
McCleskey then had a chance to stay in the dorms at JCJC in June after she was picked to play on the Class 4A/5A/6A North Team for the MAC All-Star game, which was played in Ellisville.
McCleskey said being away from home and juggling academics and athletics will be the biggest challenges she will face when she goes to college. But she is confident her drive to succeed will help keep her focused and moving forward in her softball career.
“They can make me into an even better athlete, so hopefully I will be able to play at a Division I school after two years,” McCleskey said.
Brooks believes McCleskey will be able to attain any goal she puts her mind to.
“She always gives 110 percent,” Brooks said. “She gives it all. That just says what a scholar-athlete she is, physically, mentally, and socially.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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