Area teen among All-American softball players
Few likely think of All-American softball players coming from Garland County, but for Leah Cook, it is becoming a regular occurrence.
For the second straight summer, the rising seventh grader from Lakeside played in an All-American softball tournament. This year, she got the experience of playing at OGE Energy Field at the USA Softball Hall of Fame Complex, where the Women’s College World Series is held.
Leah was one of just eight 12-and-under players from Arkansas selected to play in the USA Softball tournament.
“It felt amazing,” she said of being one of the eight chosen to play. “Every kid dreams of coming and playing on the field where the best college athletes that have ever played, probably ever lived, played on. You put in so much work and time, and to see it pay off is like a dream come true for anyone who got to step on that field.”
Leah was selected to try out for the USA Softball tournament after she was seen by scouts at a tournament in Hot Springs.
“They saw me and asked if I would come to their tryout for the entire region,” she said. “I went and tried out, and there were like 200 girls that came to that tryout. Five or six girls out of Arkansas were chosen.”
A total of 30 athletes were selected from USA Softball Region
4, which includes Arkansas, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana.
“The tournament was very exciting,” Leah said. “You had top girls from California, Florida, Arizona, everywhere from all over
48 states to play softball.
“I had great competition. There was no just sitting around time, not any just standing out there. You were moving all the time; you never had time to really stop. You were always on the run, were always moving. … You were always moving players. You were always talking to each other. You always had to communicate. If you didn’t communicate, you were fixing to get trampled because somebody would forget where they were going, and it could cost you the game.”
While she generally plays third base, Leah had to play catcher for most of the tournament. Her team, Region 4 Blue, finished tied for fifth among the 24 teams. “We did really well,” she said. Her father, Joe Cook, said he is very proud of her accomplishments, especially seeing her play on the field where they regularly go to watch the Women’s College World Series.
“She works hard, and she’s developed,” he said. “I’m just proud of her and how hard she’s worked to get where she’s been and thankful for all the people
who’ve been involved. … I love to watch her play. She plays so hard and has such passion for it. It was cool to watch her play on the same field. We go every year to the Women’s College World Series. I figure if she’s going to play softball, she needs to see where maybe, maybe she’s headed. It’s cool to sit there and watch her play on that field.”
Last summer, Leah was selected to play in the United States Specialty Sports Association’s All-American tournament in Orlando, Fla.
“That tournament was really big,” she said. “You had all the top players from all over the country coming to play. I qualified because I went to Kansas City (Mo.) for a tryout, and they looked at all of us, and I was chosen to play on their team.”
Leah was one of five players that were “direct selects,” chosen from the 40 at the tryout as part of the team. The balance of the players were selected following the remainder of the tryouts from across the country.
The infielder plays for Texas Glory 2005 Arkansas, a travel team out of the Benton area that sports athletes from all over the state, including Nashville and Alma.
“We go to tournaments,” she said. “We don’t stay local. We go to Tennessee. We’ve gone to Georgia. We’ve gone to Kansas City about three times this year. We go find out the teams that are at the top level to see where we stack up, and personally I think we stack up pretty well to them.”
The team plays two seasons, one in the fall from mid-September through November and in the spring and summer, starting in February and ending in July. Leah will be starting her fourth season with the team this fall. They finished this past season with a record of 62-22.
Reaching her current level of play was a bit of a surprise for Leah.
“When I started playing softball, I played in a league in Bryant,” she said. “I was not very good at all. I’ve always had a really strong arm, but I never thought that it could get me from being the kid who could throw farthest to (where I am today).
“It’s just amazing how I’ve come from just being a league kid, and I’ve come so far. I never thought I would ever actually do that. When I was little, I didn’t even know that existed.”
Leah admitted that much of her improvement has come from the people who gave her opportunities and helped her advance. Among those are Scott Knight, who heads the Texas Glory organization in the state, Lanea Bittinger, who coaches the team, and Jumbo Cauthen, the team’s assistant coach.
She is also looking ahead to playing on the collegiate level.
“My goal is to, overall, play college softball at the highest level I can get,” she said. “Every kid dreams of playing DI softball, but when people say DI, they think Alabama, Florida, Oklahoma.
“DI is a widespread thing. You have a lot more than just Top 10 schools. My goal is to play in a DI softball organization … get as high as I possibly can. I’ll strive in academics to do the best I can do to make it there.”