Haley Tutor didn”t know what to expect Wednesday night.
Surrounded by some of the state”s best senior athletes from 23 sports, Tutor knew she belonged, but she wasn”t sure if she was good enough to win the PopStar Award, which goes to the state”s top athlete, for slow-pitch softball.
Tutor thought a nominee from Clarkdale High would get the award. Still uncertain, she checked the program for the event in Jackson and saw her batting average for the 2010 season — .597 — and felt she might have a chance.
Tutor didn”t give winning the award a second thought — until her name was called.
“I was just happy to get nominated,” said Tutor, who recently completed her senior year at New Hope High School. “I was really shocked.”
Tutor played an integral role in helping New Hope win its fourth state slow-pitch crown, and 13th in program history, in a row in October. She mixed solid defensive play in left field with a knack for being able to set the tempo as a leadoff hitter, whether it was with a single or an extra-base hit.
“I think she is very deserving,” New Hope High coach Tabitha Beard said. “When I became coach, she was already there and I knew she was one of the ones I had to build a program around. I was happy it came through for her.”
Beard said Tutor was a strong defensive player for as long as she played the sport. She said Tutor matured into a hitter she hoped would be at the plate in clutch situations. Whenever Tutor was, Beard said she had the ability to deliver and to spark a rally.
“She was not an not outspoken leader, but she always led her team with her presence and her leadoff ability,” Beard said. “If Haley led off with a hit, I knew something great was going to happen and we were going to be able to sore some runs.”
Tutor opted not to play fast-pitch softball in 2011. She plans to attend Itawamba Community College to begin work toward a degree in physical therapy.
Even though she had been away from softball since October, Tutor said it felt good to be back associated with the sport Wednesday night.
“It made me feel good again,” Tutor said. “I was happy I got nominated. I was very honored to be put in that category with (all of the other players from New Hope who won the award). I grew up knowing how good they were, and I feel honored to know I am in the same category.”
Tutor follows in a long line of New Hope High slow-pitch softball players who have won the award. DeShuni Sanders, who recently completed her sophomore season at East Mississippi Community College, won the award in 2009, as did Laura Lee Holman, who is now the school”s girls basketball coach, in ”03, Courtney Gordon (”04), and and Rachel Baucom (”06).
The Clarion-Ledger”s Rod Walker and Todd Kelly, a former sportswriter at The Clarion-Ledger who now works at the Mississippi High School Activities Association, are involved with the voting for the awards.
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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