Mitchell’s Poise at the Plate Wins Game In Walk-Off Fashion for The Lady Leps

The situation couldn’t have been more tense.

But freshman Hannah Mitchell was calm.

With La Grange in desperate need of a softball victory and the game on the line in extra innings Tuesday, Mitchell hit a two-out walk-off double to vault the Lady Leps to a 5-4 win over Giddings.

“Hannah Mitchell has been on fire the past few weeks. She’s been making some great contact, hitting the ball hard,” said La Grange softball coach Ted Ferretti. “We’ve even bumped her up in the lineup.

“Hanna puts in the intentional work at practice – not to say that our other players don’t, but I and the other coaches have really seen that with Hannah, and it’s paid off.”

Because of her timely hitting, especially Tuesday’s game-winner, we’re proud to honor Mitchell as this week’s Fayette County Athlete of the Week.

We caught up with Mitchell, the Lady Leps starting second baseman, just moments after Tuesday’s big hit. Here’s our interview: “It felt really amazing,” said Mitchell of getting the game-winning hit and being mobbed by her teammates at second base. “I felt really calm when I got up to the plate. I felt like I knew what I could do and what could happen. It was a really awesome moment.”

Mitchell is just a freshman, so that calm she talks about, especially in a big situation like that in the eighth inning of Tuesday’s game, is unique.

“I’ve been playing softball for a really long time, since tee-ball and I’ve learned that when I’m calm, I’m focused and I know that I can do it,” Mitchell said.

Tuesday’s victory was especially meaningful for Mitchell and the rest of the Lady Leps. They had lost their first five district games prior to Tuesday, often in heartbreakingly close fashion.

“We’ll remember how amazing this feeling was,” Mitchell said. “But we’ll also remember how much of ripple effect one bad play can have (from those games they lost). All the other games we’d get a lead and have one bad play and it would ripple. Today we rippled up.”