Story - The Meade County Messenger


Vol. 119. No.30	July 28 , 2010

Lady Waves hold season-end banquet

The Lady Wave softball team gathered for its final rally July 15 at a banquet to honor its players and their accomplishments. The Lady Waves dominated the season, yet didn’t produce the district, regional, and state trophies within their reach.

The varsity team was 32-6, and ended the season as district runners-up. They did bring home the “J-Town” tourney championship, and were the TSOA runners-up. The junior varsity team ended up 17-5 on the season, and were the Ballard Tourney champs. The freshman were 21-14.

A surprise announcement to most present, Coach Mike Harreld was named “”All-Area Coach of the Year” by the News Enterprise. It was not surprising, said his staff, that he would not make “a big deal of it.”

“This year I received the honor of receiving All Area Coach of the Year,” said Mike Harreld. “That award, and I will be e-mailing the newspaper and asking that they make that coach and staff of the year. It’s really the staff that does it, with all the work they put in. It also should be team of the year.”
An emotional Assistant Coach Belinda Ledford commented on the humility and humbleness of Harreld during her speech.

“He will not take credit for anything. I’ve been with him for 15 years, and I hope to be with him for as long as he stays. He knows more about this game than most college coaches,” said Ledford. “There is a great deal of respect for him throughout the state. You know, he made coaches hall of fame, and didn’t tell me about it. That’s the way he is, he’s a team player. I want everyone to realize he’s deserved every award he’s ever gotten.”

A humorous impromptu recognition was made by Coach Eli Dix for the freshman team.

“Those that aren’t here don’t like chicken,” he joked. “We were 21-14, but if you saw us at the beginning of the year, you would have thought we’d have zero-wins and 35 losses. But our freshman team is about how much we could learn, and get ready to play varsity ball. These girls learned a lot, and it makes me really proud. They learned and really improved.”

Coach Ledford addressed the junior varsity season.

“We went to Louisville and beat some really excellent teams,” she said.
Announced during the banquet was the fact that due to computer replacement at the school, statistics for the junior varsity team were accidentally erased. Also, new records will take effect as of 2009 to coincide with the new 43-foot pitching distance. Harreld will try to reassemble the JV statistics from game books.

The banquet also honored departing seniors, Erin Sireno and Mallory Wathen.
Ledford described Sireno as the power hitter of the team.

“They could bounce it in there, they could throw it over her head, but she would hit it,” said Harreld. “As good as a player as she was, she’s an even better person. Her work ethic is unbelievable. Everytime she takes a cut, it’s a focused cut.”

He described Wathen as a second coach on the field.

“She calls a lot of the plays on the field, and she’s always thinking. She calls some of the pickoffs before I saw what was coming,” said Harreld, who went on to describe her extra training during a batting slump.
Also honored were academic achievements, which Harreld places a great deal of emphasis on. Academic All-State awards were given to three girls with 3.0-3.5 GPAs, and 13 with 3.5-4.0 scores.

“To give you an idea of how much I helped these kids along, one night they asked me about the Cold War. They asked me when it started, and I told them it was during the Ice Age. They actually went back and told a teacher that,” joked Harreld. “They’re smart. To give you an idea, one of the girls needed her records sent over for college coaches. I knew she had a good GPA, but she had a 4.0. Some of them play basketball and softball, or volleyball too.”

Mallory Wathen had theteam’s highest GPA with a 4.5.
Seniors Wathen and Sireno addressed the crowd, prior to an emotional slideshow highlighting the ups and downs of the season.

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