As a No. 1 seed, Parkers Chapel had the very first game of the 2A State Tournament, which was played in Mountain Home. Sophomore pitcher Drue Thomas went out for warm-ups and immediately sensed something was amiss.
A dispute began over the distance from the pitching rubber to home plate. Thomas thought it was too short.
“As soon as we started taking pregame, I noticed something was off,” said Thomas. “I told Coach (Rhonda) Swilley and she got them to come check it and they said it was the right (distance). But it just didn’t look right to me. Maybe because it was going a little uphill. But I’ll never know. I just didn’t want it to be too close because then that doesn’t give time for my pitches to break.”
Although the officials didn’t change anything, Thomas still allowed just three hits and struck out 10 in a 3-2 win over Magnet Cove.
She proved her point. If anyone thinks Thomas is going to give away even an inch in that circle, they’re wrong.
“If she’s on her game, and she was for the biggest part of the year, she came ready to play. She struggled some early, but she was dealing with different catchers every game. It’s hard to keep your confidence up when you’re pitching that way,” said Swilley. “I didn’t ever feel like we would have a blow-out inning. She has so many different things she can bring to the pitching rubber. It’s easy to find what she’s hitting that day.
“With Drue, it’s about the consistency of her warm-up and getting ready for a ball game. Every umpire is a little different. Everybody wants it a little bit different and she has to find where it is that particular umpire is calling strikes and what he’s giving. She’s good at finding that and then, honing in on what she can do with her skill level.”
PC went 19-7 on the season with Thomas as the team’s bell cow in the circle. She posted a 14-6 record with 193 strikeouts in 132 innings pitched. The righthander surrendered 101 hits and 82 runs, although only 49 runs were earned. She had 59 walks on the season and a 2.59 earned run average.
“The season was a great season. It was a big year for us,” said Thomas. “I know we didn’t win it all or anything, but we went further than anyone thought we could and that makes me proud.”
Thomas was at her best down the stretch in the most important games. The Lady Trojans won the district and regional tournaments, primarily in nail-biting contests.
“Pitching in the big tournaments is kind of nerve wracking but I was fine,” she said. “I’ve been in a lot of pressure games and situations before and they don’t really affect me anymore. I felt that I was pitching my best at the end of the season.”
Thomas said she relied on her fastball, curve, screw, drop, off-speed drop and off-speed curve this season. As the summer softball season approaches, she’s ready to add more to her repertoire.
“This off-season I’ll continue with my travel ball and tennis and basketball. But I’m gonna try focusing on getting stronger in my legs to try to get a little more velocity for next year,” she said. “I’m just mainly going to try to pick up some speed and keep working on my spin.”