By Lee Davis
Mary Katherine Tedder already was a softball veteran when she earned a spot on the Spain Park varsity team as a mere seventh-grader five years ago.
Tedder was a softball prodigy as a child, having first played at the age of four. By her eighth birthday, she was playing travel ball. So by the time Tedder was 12, she was ready for the rigors of the game at the high school level – at least in theory.
“It was very intimidating,” Tedder said in an interview. “I really didn’t know what to expect. There were some girls who didn’t take softball as seriously as I did. It was hard to be a leader when I was playing with girls who were 16 and 17 years old. But I tried.”
Let’s fast forward to 2016. The once-timid seventh-grader is now a senior in one of Alabama’s best programs. And Tedder, a shortstop/second baseman, is one of the state’s finest players.
Through the first 19 games of the season, Tedder is batting a whopping .481 with 31 RBIs and an eye-popping total of 11 home runs. She has an on-base percentage of .542. Her best performance of the year may have come in an 11-1 rout of Tuscaloosa County on March 1. Tedder smashed two home runs, including a grand slammer, to lead her team to victory.
In part because of Tedder’s heroics, the Lady Jags were 13-6 as they entered the weekend.
As a senior, she sees that the proverbial shoe is on the other foot as far as leadership is concerned.
“We overcame some adversity early in the season and now we seem to have a lot of chemistry,” she said. “In the past, we’ve had a lot of older players, but this season we have a lot of freshmen, eighth-graders and a seventh-grader on the squad. As seniors, it’s our responsibility to teach them the importance of working hard all the time and not goofing off. We’ve also had some injuries, but we’re a pretty healthy team now.”
Tedder can turn heads when she describes softball as “a game of failure,” until she explains exactly what she means.
“In softball, you’re going to fail more often than not,” she explained. “You can be a really good hitter and fail 70 percent of the time. The key to success is how well a player can handle failure; that shows if they can help carry the team. A player can contribute more from the dugout, by cheering for her teammates, than someone on the field who has a bad attitude.”
Spain Park is far from a one-girl show. Centerfielder Julianna Cross and utility players Destini England and Jenna Olszewsky earned All Over-the-Mountain last season and are having productive years in 2016. Third baseman/catcher/shortstop Kynadi Tipler is batting .440 with 10 RBIs. The Lady Jags’ ace pitcher is freshman Kate Campbell, who has posted a 10-4 record with 40 strikeouts.
Tedder, known to her teammates as M.K., has already committed to play at the University of Texas next year. With her decision about college in the rear-view mirror, Tedder is able to focus on the task at hand – getting the Lady Jaguars back to the state tournament in Montgomery and perhaps even bringing home the Class 7A championship trophy.
“I’m not really worried about statistics this year,” she said. “It’s a matter of taking it game by game and being the best I can be every day.”
For M.K. Tedder, that sounds like a fail-safe approach.
Heroes in Red and Blue
The incident at Vestavia Hills High School on March 10 in which three track and field athletes suffered electrical shock while moving a portable goal post was a reminder of how someone’s life can change in the tick of a clock.
It’s also a reminder of the invaluable services performed by school coaches, trainers, teachers and support personnel at schools throughout Alabama. By all accounts, the work of the Vestavia staff that day probably saved lives.
Fortunately, school staffs don’t have to deal with a crisis of that magnitude often, but the clearheaded and decisive actions shown that day should give parents the peace of mind of knowing the caliber of the adults who are entrusted with their children’s care.
Coaches at the high school level are often evaluated strictly by their won/lost record on the field. The events of March 10 showed again why coaching/teaching is a special calling for special people.
