WEST POINT — Time has stood still for five years in the Oak Hill Academy baseball/softball fieldhouse.
For each of those seasons, Mamie Allen has taken to the circle and shouldered a significant number of innings for the Lady Raiders’ fast-pitch softball team.
That’s why it’s fitting Allen is in one of the pictures in a montage on the wall next to coach Marion Bratton’s office. The pictures are from Allen’s seventh-grade season in 2007, and one of them shows the right-hander who helped lead Oak Hill Academy to the Mississippi Association of Independent Schools (then known as the Mississippi Private School Association) AAA State tournament.
Pillow Academy ended Oak Hill Academy’s season at 20-14 in 2007, and since then, the Lady Raiders have made it back to the state tournament once — in 2010.
Allen played a key role in the circle that season, too, and she will be counted on to do the same in 2012 with the help of a new battery mate. This season, senior Meg McBrayer will team with Allen, her classmate and best friend, in hopes of leading Oak Hill Academy to a season to remember.
“I am really excited about it,” McBrayer said. “Catcher is one of the leaders on the field, and I am looking to step up my senior year.”
Bratton said the team is in “rush mode” in part because it hasn’t had a lot of time together. He hopes the team will hit its stride in the third or fourth week of August. If not, the season will be over before the team knows it. Oak Hill Academy will open the season at 4 p.m. Monday when it plays at Starkville Academy. Bratton is a little less anxious about the fast start to the season because of Allen.
“I am comfortable with Mamie,” Bratton said. “I have to say very little to Mamie. She knows what to do. Every coach has to find how to handle each player. Mamie is one of those I don’t have to stay on.”
Allen admits she was scared the first time she pitched in the state tournament as a seventh-grader. This year, she said it is a little sad to know this will be her last season of fast-pitch ball at Oak Hill Academy, but she also is comforted by the fact McBrayer knows her so well and will be ready to do a solid job behind the plate.
“We have been looking forward to this for a long time,” Allen said. “We have been ready to be together. We have been friends for a long time, so it is really not hard to get used to each other.”
McBrayer caught Allen at times last season. Allen said that experience helped the two develop a bond she feels will help make each of them better.
McBrayer said she considered herself a contributor in past seasons, but she admitted she didn’t step up as much or had as much say on the team. She knows that will have to change this season because she will have to keep Allen focused and she will have to set the example for a young team. She said Allen will help her keep the right attitude, too.
“Mamie is an amazing pitcher. I love catching her,” McBrayer said. “She makes my job so easy. We are just going to encourage each other.”
Bratton also will look to seniors Jessica Ryan, Kim Kelly, Jessi Cole, and Jackie Gates to set that example. He said junior Maegen Ellis, who will see time in the infield and at pitcher, will be another integral piece to the team’s success.
But Bratton knows good things start in the circle in fast-pitch softball. That’s why he believes his team may be able to come together a little quicker thanks to the experience of Allen and her friendship with McBrayer.
“Your defense starts on the mound,” Bratton said. “You have to be able to put the ball around the plate. I just tell them to give us an opportunity. We can’t defend the walk or a hit batter. This year, I am going to have to rely on Mamie because she has been working on some things and she pretty much well knows what to do. Her and Meg, if those two can come through, like you said, you have to be solid up the middle.”
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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