Danielle Pearson might have been a little nervous about converting to switch-hitting for her senior softball season at Southeast Whitfield, but her success with the endeavor hasn’t exactly caught one of her oldest friends off guard.
Then again, fellow Lady Raider Mallory Edgeman has known Pearson long enough to understand she doesn’t make a habit of tolerating failure. Edgeman, the team’s second baseman and a fellow senior, has formed a double-play tandem with Pearson at shortstop for much of their softball careers since the two met in third grade.
“She is probably one of the most competitive people I have ever met in my life,” Edgeman said. “She is not going to let anybody outwork her, she’s not going to let anybody be better than her. She’s not. She’s going to do whatever it takes to win.”
Pearson can still pack her traditional right-handed swing at the plate, but at the request of first-year Lady Raiders coach Jeff McDonald, she started learning this summer to slap hit from the left side in an effort to take advantage of her speed. McDonald asked his daughter Morgan, a former Lady Raider and 2006 Southeast graduate, to give Pearson a few pointers.
“Morgan came back and told me, ‘She’s a natural. She sees the ball real well,’” the coach said. “When you don’t use her speed like that, I think you’re doing an injustice to everybody. She was No. 3 or 4 in our lineup because she hits so well, but she’s so fast.”
Pearson backed up McDonald’s strategy most recently when she reached from the left side during Tuesday’s 11-1 rout of Murray County, then scored from first on a double. Edgeman hits second as the team’s best singles hitter, giving McDonald a good start to his lineup.
As for Pearson, it’s been an adjustment to swing lefty, but one she has grown more comfortable with since the season started three weeks ago.
“I slapped last night and got it down and got on base,” Pearson said. “The other day I slapped and got on base, so I’m getting on more. Ever since I was 4, I’ve been hitting right-handed. Then all of a sudden my senior year, he wants to turn me around, so I was really nervous at first. But now it has become more natural to me.”
Pearson is just as valuable to the Lady Raiders in the field, McDonald said, exhibiting good footwork, a strong arm and speedy lateral movement that matches her swiftness on the basepaths. But her mental approach is as important as anything else, the coach believes.
“She’s very, very aggressive and highly competitive,” McDonald said. “She’s one of these kind of players that, if she makes a mistake, she gets mad at herself. But she’ll turn around and make a great play right after that. So she has the ability to make a mistake and recover from it.”
That sharpness carries over to the classroom for Pearson, who isn’t unlike many of her teammates in her devotion to academics as well as athletics. She’s among five Lady Raiders softball seniors who carry a 4.0 grade point average. Math is her favorite subject, which is not surprising considering it comes easiest to her, but she’s willing to work for her achievements in that regard, too.
She’s already thinking of a career in the medical field that might also allow her to work with children, and studying will be something she still has plenty of ahead of her if that’s the case. It shouldn’t be a problem for the competitive Pearson.
“I have to do homework and study,” she said. “I can’t just sit there and listen and remember everything. I have to work hard, but grades are really important to me and colleges really look at your grade point average, so it’s really important to keep that up.”
Softball might help Pearson pay for some of her schooling at the next level. McDonald said a few colleges have already expressed an interest in Pearson, who has received some help from former Lady Raiders coach Heather Randolph in getting her name and video highlights in front of coaches.
What that may not show, however, is another trait McDonald believes makes Pearson stand out — leadership.
It’s a necessity at shortstop, where she has started since she was a sophomore — she started in center field as a freshman — as well as at point guard, the position she occupies during basketball season. McDonald coached the Lady Raiders in that sport for the 2007-08 and 2008-09 seasons and knew Pearson would be capable of once again filling a guiding role on the diamond.
“It’s her infield and everybody knows it and is comfortable with that,” McDonald said.
In the past, that’s something she’s done more by example and less with her words, allowing Edgeman to speak more on the field. But Pearson believed she needed to be more vocal as a senior and has made an effort to be an even bigger role model for younger players.
Once again, it probably hasn’t surprised Edgeman that an adjustment in the name of helping her team is a commitment Pearson has been willing to make.
“She doesn’t talk a lot as far as games go, so I kind of made up for that,” Edgeman said. “But she has really come out of her shell a lot as far as being vocal on the field. She’s done a lot better on the field as far as stepping up and talking.”
California's Foie Gras Ban About to Begin
6-Year-Old Going to National Spelling Bee
Video Essay: Funky Winkerbean Comic Turns 40
On Thailand Trip, Suu Kyi Visits Migrants
Raw Video: Pink Diamond Auctioned for $17.4M
Hurricane Andrew Remembered, 20 Years Later
Sister Says She Reported Brother in Patz Killing
Patz Suspect's Sister: I Went to Police in 1980s
Diplomatic Expulsions Follow Fresh Syria Report
15 Dead in Northern Italy's 5.8-magnitude Quake
Angry Birds Spreading Their Wings
Witness Describes Fla. Face-chewing Attack
Man Falls Off Crane, Dies After Police Standoff
Russia Condemns Ally Syria Over Massacre of 108
Dairy Farm Uses Chiropractor to Help Cows
Unexpected Smog in Pristine National Parks
Air Canada Plane Makes Emergency Landing
New Ticks Spread Across Southeast, Diseases Rise
Bring Your Own Tech Programs Charge Up Students
Pope's Butler Vows to Help Vatican Investigation
