Walker seeks to keep Whitesboro among elite

Peyton Walker comes to Whitesboro from Hammon to extend the softball success for the red, white and blue.

“They have a great tradition, tons of talent, tons of athletes and I think they’re hungry for a state championship, so I’m excited to get going with them,” Walker said while watching Whitesboro in its slow-pitch state semifinal on Tuesday. She noted that the team only loses two seniors, Kinley Barron and Austyn Wright. “It’s a good little group to step into.”

Walker said she looks forward to working with pitcher Madison Grogan, who threw 180 strikeouts and 73.9 percent of her pitches for strikes in the fall while helping Whitesboro to the fast-pitch state semifinals.

Walker coached softball at Hammon, her alma mater, the past four years, bringing the team to state each year in fast-pitch, including a state semifinal appearance last fall, and twice in slow-pitch, with a state semifinal appearance in 2019.

She said her coaching values include “dedication, hustle — I’m huge on hustle — intensity.”

Walker pitched for two years at Oklahoma State University and two years at the University of Central Oklahoma, playing with new Carl Albert State College softball head coach Lexi Watson at UCO.

In 2017, Walker was named to the All-MidAmerica Intercollegiate Athletics Association second team while throwing 10 shutouts and recording a 1.48 earned run average.

She won two softball state championships with Hammon as a player.

Walker replaces JoAnn Scarberry, who retired a year after being inducted into the Oklahoma SlowPitch Softball Coaches Association Hall of Fame.

Whitesboro has made the past four slow-pitch state tournaments and the last five fast-pitch state tourneys, with runner-up finishes last year in slowpitch and in 2019 in fastpitch.