Softball has been a part of Lauren Holifield’s life ever since she can remember.

She watched her mother, Connie Sharpe, coach at Caledonia High School and play the sport. She also grew up seeing her sister, Tori Harris, play for New Hope High and imagined the day she would wear the black and gold and help the program build on its tradition.

But no one could have scripted a season as dominating as the one Holifield authored in 2011.

The junior outfielder cemented her status as one of the state’s top players in October when she hit a walk-off three-run home run to beat Neshoba Central in game two of the best-of-three the Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 5A North State playoff series. The blast sent New Hope on to the state championship series, where it swept Picayune to win its fifth crown in a row, and its 14th in school history.

For her accomplishments, Holifield is The Dispatch Slow-Pitch Softball Player of the Year. Holifield also was The Dispatch’s 2010 All-Area Large Schools Fast-Pitch Player of the Year.

“I remember when I was little I was always referred to as ‘Tori’s little sister’,” Holifield said. “Now I feel they know me as, ‘Lauren Holifield the softball player.’ When someone says the softball team (at New Hope), I think they do think of me and my friends. I feel me and softball are connected. It is who I am.”

This season, Holifield led an All-State contingent from New Hope High that included D.J. Sanders, Kasey Stanfield, and Anna McCrary. Those four and Kaitlin Bradley and Erin Stanfield made All-District.

Holifield adjusted this season from playing infield to moving to the outfield and patrolling short field. She psyched herself up by wearing a bandana that signified she was going into battle and she was going to do anything her team needed to win the game.

New Hope coach Tabitha Beard said Holifield was the first player she has had to hit better than .600. Not only did Holifield hit .625, she also had 21 home runs to lead the squad, which finished 25-7.

“When we needed that big hit she was more than capable to give it to us,” Beard said. “She did a real good job when we needed to get the ball down and to get on base as well. We really had to focus on that later in the season because you can’t hit the long ball in Jackson (at the 300-foot fences at the V.A. Fields) and you have to get it down.”

But Beard said Holifield’s work ethic is her most impressive trait. She said Holifield is always working and is always trying to get better.

“You don’t get that good or to do those things without doing it,” Beard said. “She really does a lot of behind-the-scenes work.”

Beard recalls going to the New Hope High field at 9 p.m. on a Friday and seeing Holifield and her “Fantastic Four” classmates at the facility practicing. She feels part of Holifield’s motivation comes from the fact she doesn’t want anyone to think she is getting anything because she is the daughter of a coach.

“She almost works 10 times harder because she feels she has to be 10 times better to be looked at as it you’re good,” Beard said. “She wants to earn it, and she works real hard to do that.”

Holifield feels she is “dedicated,” but she doesn’t flaunt her confidence. She prefers people come watch her play so she can prove to them that she is as good as some people believe. She now feels she has the confidence to deliver in clutch situations and be a “beast” if her team needs her to be one.

“If it is needed, I will get the job done,” Holifield said. “I work really hard, so I believe that if I need to get it done, I have worked so many hours and days that I have the ability to get it done.”

Holifield is a member of the New Hope High basketball teams, but softball is her true love. She went from the sweep of Picayune in slow-pitch softball to a fast-pitch event later in the day and recorded a home run. She hopes that passion for the game helps her attract attention from college coaches and earn a scholarship to play the sport at the next level.

Even if she doesn’t realize that goal, Holifield knows softball will be something she does for the rest of her life. She loves it that much that she hopes she will be physically able to play well into her adult life. She may not be able to smack 21 home runs in a season, but the love for the game will remain.

“I want to be playing when I am 60 because I love it,” Holifield said. “I don’t know what I would do if I don’t play softball. It just has been in my life forever.”

Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.