Diamond her best friend

While a lot of high school athletes juggle summertime competition around two or three sports, Jessica Gallmon maintains a full schedule by concentrating on just softball.

Gallmon, a Daily Citizen All-Area softball performer in 2008, plays summer ball with the Georgia Heat, a team that participates in tournaments almost every weekend and won the USSSA state title two weeks ago. In fact, the Heat will conclude their final summer tourney, a college exposure event, today in Woodstock.

“We’ve probably played between 65 and 70 games this summer,” said Gallmon, who is winding down her third year with the Heat and gearing up for her senior season at Dalton High. “I’d say I’ve pitched about half those games and I think I’ve lost three times. We have two other pitchers, Jennifer Long of Chattanooga Christian, who has signed with Carson-Newman, and Katie Sparks of Ringgold.”

Winning, of course, is not new to Gallmon. As a junior, the right-hander hurler went 15-5, earning the win in every game the Lady Catamounts won.

In the SCORE International Invitational in Chattanooga, Dalton was 5-0 and Gallmon won all five games while striking out 64 and allowing 12 hits. Her wins included a no-hitter and a four-inning perfect game. Against Walker Valley, Gallmon struck out the first 10 batters she faced and ended with 15 in a 3-0 victory.

In the North Cobb Warrior Classic, Gallmon won four games in one day, including another four-inning perfect game, and Dalton won the tournament championship. She struck out 29, gave up nine hits and six runs.

For the season Gallmon pitched 127 innings and recorded 200 strikeouts. She gave up 71 hits and 20 runs and earned her first selection to the all-area team.

“People were asking me how we were winning so many games since after Shelby Whitfield, Pakie Planzer and Amanda Rector we had basketball players and swimmers who hadn’t played in a long time,” Dalton softball coach Bobby Brotherton said. “I told them it was because Jessica was striking out 12, 13 or 14 batters a game and when she did that we weren’t having to field very many balls. The ones we did field weren’t hit very hard. She made life easy for us.”

But a late-season knee injury stopped Gallmon cold and the Lady Cats quickly dropped two games to Sprayberry and Rome in the Region 7-4A tournament and their season ended with Gallmon hobbling around on crutches. She was hit on the right knee cap by a thrown ball from the infield while catching infield throws for the coaches near home plate in a practice three days before the tournament started.

“Doctors basically said it was a really bad bruise,” Gallmon said. “It wasn’t anybody’s fault. We just weren’t paying attention at the time and it happened.”

Gallmon also battled a back problem that required regular visits to a chiropractor and had a cortisone shot in her throwing shoulder. S pitched through the discomforts until the knee injury shortened her season.

Brotherton wasn’t surprised at Gall-mon’s grit.

“In the SCORE tournament’s final game against LaFayette, Gallmon was hit in the right arm by a line drive and it was a laser,” Brotherton said. “I ran out there thinking she wouldn’t be able to pitch and was thinking what do we do now. She looked up and said, ‘Let me see if I can throw.’ She threw a couple of times and said, ‘Let’s go.’ That describes Jessica. She’s a tough-nut kid.”

Showing up for weekday practices and weekend tournaments all summer is the easy part for Gallmon because softball is her passion. After a short break from school ball, Gallmon started workouts for summer ball in February and the season runs through July. She will continue pitching sessions in Fort Oglethorpe with Beth Alexander Edgar, a former Tennessee-Chattanooga pitcher and then start serious preparations for her senior season at Dalton High. Lady Catamounts teammate Whitfield, a catcher, also plays with the Heat.

“I want this to be a good year, a fun year,” the 17-year-old Gallmon said. “I love summer ball but still like school ball as well. It’s going to be my last year at Dalton and last time playing with the younger girls.”

A primary objective for her senior season has been to add velocity to her fastball. Gallmon said she currently is throwing about 64 mph, but wants to push that into the 66 or 67 mph range.

“That would help me a lot,” the 5-foot-6-inch Gallmon said.

Gallmon also includes a curve, riser, drop, screwball and of late a knuckleball in her pitching arsenal.

“Those pitches usually work pretty good and my knuckleball is coming around,” she said. “I usually throw the knuckleball once or twice a game.”

The advantage of playing a summer schedule is the fact that college coaches do a lot of recruiting during those months and Gallmon has seen her fair share of them. She said she’s currently considering opportunities to play at Shorter, Austin Peay, Young Harris and Alabama-Birmingham.

“I have visited Shorter,” Gallmon said, “and like it a lot. They’re serious about me too, so that’s a real possibility.”

Sports

Search Results

Related Photos

Discussion

Dalton pitching ace performs year round

Site Map

Contact Us