As only senior for the Lady Vols
While Starkville Academy softball is in the transition of new leadership under head coach Lee Berryhill and has several young players in key spots, they’ve needed leadership like Austin Tucker.
The lone senior on the team, Tucker has been the emotional leader but she’s also getting the job done at the plate and in the field as much as anyone on the team. She bats second in the lineup and plays first base. She’s s a player that Berryhill has counted on heavily within the first six games of the season.
“Normally we look to our older class to help lead us,” Berryhill said. “With this group right here and a new coaching staff, we’re collectively doing it all. At the same time, we’re still looking at the older players to lead and set an example.”
With many lessons needing to be learned for this Starkville Academy group, Tucker is helping them make up ground quickly. The team is on a fourgame winning streak and three of those wins have come within the last week.
In the three-game stretch, Tucker was 7-for-9 at the plate with five RBI, three doubles and four walks earning her this week’s OCH Regional Medical Center Athlete of the Week. Her work helped the Lady Volunteers not only to three wins but three run-rule victories. She believes that a change in the defensive alignment might have played as big a factor as any as she moved from third base to first base and things have gotten cleaner all around the infield.
“It shifted the whole momentum for us,” Tucker said of the defensive changes. “Me being on first and moving Fallon (Parker) to third was different for us, but it was a good different. It really made us want to do better and want to make the plays.”
At the same time, her biggest impact is coming at the plate.
Tucker went 3-for-4 with a double and two RBI in a 3414 win in six innings at Oak Hill last week. She followed that up by going 4-for-5 with two RBI and two doubles against Hebron as Starkville Academy rolled to a 16-6 win also in six innings.
On Tuesday night against Kirk Academy, the Lady Vols didn’t see many strikes as they batted in just two frames. Tucker had an RBI on a sacrifice fly and two walks as Starkville Academy won 13-1 in just three innings. Berryhill likes the approach she’s taking at the plate as no out is easy when she steps in the box.
“She’s comfortable at the plate and seeing the ball really well,” Berryhill said of Tucker. “Doing a great job of preloading with two strikes on her is helping her a lot, (and she is) staying back on the ball. She’s learning the approach that we’re trying to teach right now, being disciplined and giving us a chance.”
Tucker’s leadership has the Lady Vols playing on a level that they haven’t played in her time in the program. They’ve got a healthy winning streak
and are brimming with confidence across the board.
She’s trying to keep the positive vibes and stellar play alive as they prepare to go for a fifth-straight win tonight at home against Oak Hill Academy.
“Our four-game winning streak is really paying off,” Tucker said. “It’s giving us a lot of confidence to come out here and kick tail. Every run is extra confidence and it’s been really great.”