Growing up in Caledonia, Andy Finch was introduced to baseball around the ages of 5 or 6, when he started playing tee ball. He played baseball all throughout his youth and adolescence, graduating from Caledonia High School in 1998 and playing football and basketball as well.
It wasn’t until he began teaching at West Point High School, though, that Finch discovered softball. West Point’s athletic director knew Finch was familiar with baseball, and figured the two sports were similar enough that he would be comfortable coaching the Green Wave’s softball team.
Finch took the opportunity and ran with it, and he is now back at his alma mater building a perennial softball contender at Caledonia. The Cavaliers finished 23-14 this past spring with a 7-1 mark in district play, advancing to the third round of the state playoffs before losing to Itawamba Agricultural.
“We have a lot of people come to our games,” Finch said. “It’s a lot faster paced. It’s a lot more interesting than watching a baseball game. I grew up playing baseball, but baseball can be boring compared to a softball game because of the speed of the game, how fast the game happens and all the action in it.”
Softball has exploded in popularity nationwide in recent years, both in terms of participation and viewership, and that rapid growth is being reflected in Mississippi and the Golden Triangle region.
On a larger scale, the 2024 Women’s College World Series finals between Oklahoma and Texas drew an average of two million viewers on ESPN, the most on record and up 24 percent from 2023. Professional opportunities are also expanding, with Athletes Unlimited preparing to launch a traditional league next year and independent teams popping up all around the country.
Meanwhile, new travel softball teams have formed across the area, giving girls the opportunity to compete against some of the best players in their age group from all over the South and potentially beyond.
“Softball in the Golden Triangle area hasn’t been around that long,” said Derrick McBride, who coaches a Caledonia-based travel team called the Mississippi Legends. “But it’s on the rise. Just over the years we’ve been here, six years, when I started, you’d have a few decent travel teams and organizations in the area. Now, pretty much anywhere you look, you see pretty solid teams that are being developed.”
Mississippi’s top college softball programs are recruiting more in-state talent, although many of those players come from travel teams in other states. Mississippi State had five players from Mississippi in 2024, compared to three the year prior and two the year before that. Ole Miss had four in-state players this past season, up from two in 2023 and just one in 2022.
The Magnolia State also boasts a robust network of junior colleges that feed top talent into NCAA Division I programs.
“We see a lot of schools in the state of Mississippi, other than junior colleges, pulling from other states, which really intrigues the coaches around here to push more to develop the players,” McBride said. “We see (players) transitioning into junior colleges here in North Mississippi, but we’d like to see it continue to advance in abundance into the bigger schools.”
Keeping it local
College coaches recruit players through their travel teams much more than their high school teams, but travel softball can constrain many families both time-wise and financially. That compelled Andrea Adams to start a new travel team, the New Hope Threat, in 2020.
Adams played softball at Mississippi University for Women and has coached at Columbus High School. Her daughter, now 11, began playing at a young age, and the New Hope Threat organization was born when other travel teams halted play due to the COVID-19 pandemic. While many travel teams attract players from multiple hours away, all of Adams’ players are from New Hope and the immediately surrounding communities.
“We started with the hopes of just creating one team, (but) with the amount of interest that we had, we were actually able to create two teams,” Adams said. “We try to keep the cost friendly. We really aren’t chasing rings and looking for trophies. It’s more about getting the reps in and teaching the girls about the game.”
Players from the New Hope Threat have started feeding into the softball program at New Hope High School, led by head coach Casey Finch-Halford since 2019. The Trojans reached the second round of the MHSAA Class 5A playoffs in 2024 before being eliminated by Lafayette.
Finch-Halford said without the experience players get from competitive travel ball teams at a young age, it’s hard to be successful at the high school level.
“If they want to compete at this high school level and move on to the collegiate level, they do need to be a part of some sort of travel team,” Finch-Halford said. “The more competitive, the better. Take individual lessons, get work when they’re not in practice. It’s really investing outside of what this general practice gives you. That’s why extra game reps with travel ball has increased the growth so much.”
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 36 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 36 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
