Kaitlyn Oswalt knows she can’t rely on one pitch in the circle.
Oswalt has played enough fast-pitch softball in high school and on the travel ball circuit to realize the top pitchers have a variety of pitches to keep hitters off balance. That’s why Oswalt has worked hard the past couple of years to develop confidence in other pitches so she could use them in any situation.
The hard work paid off for Oswalt in the fall, as she learned how to mix her changeup with her other pitches to become a dominant pitcher for the Heritage Academy softball team.
Oswalt didn’t know it at the time, but she hoped the changeup would be one of the final pieces she needed to realize her longtime goal of playing softball in college. That dream became a reality Friday, as Oswalt signed a National Letter of Intent to play softball at East Central Community College in Decatur.
“I know I can’t go to college and just throw a fastball and get away with it because it is going to just overpower them in college,” Oswalt said. “Everybody has seen that fastball before, but not everybody has seen a good changeup or a good curveball. Everybody is going to have that one pitch in college that is going to get people off balance.”
Thanks to the confidence she developed in her changeup, Oswalt blossomed in 2015 as one of the state’s top pitchers in the Mississippi Association of Independent Schools (MAIS). She used that pitch effectively with a drop curveball, a fastball, and two other pitches to keep hitters guessing. She said she is currently working on making her riseball her next “go-to pitch” that she can add to her “toolbox,” as Heritage Academy coach Gary Harris is apt to call it.
Harris believes Oswalt is more excited about the chance to play softball in college than she lets on. He has watched her emerge as a No. 1 pitcher who is counted on in the circle every game. He said she embraced that responsibility and relished the chance to work on her craft.
“She became a pitcher not just a thrower,” Harris said. “She was a strikeout pitcher last year. This year, she became more of a finesse pitcher and she could get you either way, with the off-speed pitch or with the fastball.”
Oswalt joins a program that had a record-setting season in 2015. The Lady Warriors finished 48-14 and were the runner up at the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division II National Championship. ECCC finished second in the South Division of the Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges (MACJC), second in the MACJC State tournament, and second in the NJCAA Region 23 tournament.
Former Oak Hill Academy standout Maegen Ellis was a freshman on ECCC’s 2015 softball team.
Harris is confident Oswalt will excel when she is surrounded by players who share her passion and experience for softball. He said he has watched Oswalt emerge as a leader in the circle and at the plate, so he feels she has found the ideal situation for her to take the next step.
“I think getting in a good weight program will help her,” Harris said. “I think it will help her develop three to four mph on her fastball. I think hitting spots is one thing she will have to work on. You can get away with some of that in the high school ranks, but she is going to have to work on hitting spots a little more. I think that is something she knows and already is starting to focus on and figuring out how to get hitters out.”
Oswalt, a transfer from New Hope High School, came up as an infielder, which is where she thought she might have an opportunity to play in college. She said the move to Heritage Academy gave her a chance to move into the circle and realize her long-standing goal at a new position.
“Ever since I picked up the bat, I have always wanted to go to college and play ‘big-girl ball’,” Oswalt said. “It has taken a while to get there, but it doesn’t. I have worked so hard for it, and now it has finally paid off.”
Oswalt understands the part her changeup has played in the equation. She said she knew she would need a “backup” if her other pitches weren’t working so she could go to the changeup to get hitters out. While on that journey, Oswalt discovered she enjoyed the responsibility a pitcher had to shoulder and that she thrived in pressure situations. She hopes to be in even more of them at ECCC.
“I like being the person that the pressure is on and it is up to me to make the play,” Oswalt said. “When the pressure is on me, I feel like I play harder. I feel like I am more focused.
“I feel like I am going to have to push myself even harder (at ECCC) because I know I am not going to be the best pitcher. I am going to have to work hard for my position, and I am going to have other girls trying to push me out of my position.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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