Gary Harris isn’t afraid of change.
In fact, the new Heritage Academy fast-pitch softball coach embraces the concept. Spiced with a healthy dose of confidence and enthusiasm, Harris uses fresh eyes to examine everything associated with his program. Nothing is safe.
So after watching Shiloh Ellis swing and miss at a few pitches from the pitching machine, Harris encourages Ellis to switch to the left batter’s box.
Ellis’ footwork is still raw, but she makes contact on the first pitch and again and again. Five pitches into the debut as a left-handed hitter and Ellis still hasn’t missed.
Ellis proves human and sings and misses at a few pitches from the left side. Her performance, though, reflects Harris’ willingness to try new things and the potential he will try to bring out of the Lady Patriots.
“The attitudes have been wonderful,” said Harris, who was hired in April to become the school’s fast-pitch softball and boys basketball coach. “These girls are hungry to learn, they listen, and they want to be coached. As far as technique, we are a long way away from being a very good softball team, but we are getting better every day. I am tickled pink at how far we have come. If we continue to improve from now until the end of the season as much as we have up until now, I will be very pleased.”
Harris knows what it takes to be successful. In 2010, he led the Presbyterian Christian fast-pitch softball program to its first Mississippi Association of Independent Schools Class AAA state title. Six of his former players signed scholarships to play softball in college. Harris also worked as a girls basketball, softball, and track and field coach at Kirk Academy in Grenada. He understand it will take time to build a similar tradition at Heritage Academy, which won only two games last season, but that isn’t going to prevent him from trying. Heritage Academy had to re-schedule its season opener against Winston Academy. It will kick off the season at 4 p.m. Thursday when it takes on Marshall Academy.
Ellis, who played catcher last season and will play center field this year, is one of the team’s most experienced players. She is fully recovered from a torn anterior cruciate ligament she suffered in basketball season. She was back working out in the spring with the school’s track and field program and is ready to help Harris and the Lady Patriots build something.
“We all have a new attitude to come out here and want to win and want to play hard,” Ellis said.
Part of that new attitude involves trying new things. Ellis has slapped from the left side, but she admits she hasn’t hit from the left side in a game. Ellis knows it is unreasonable to expect Heritage Academy to fare as well as a team as she did in her initial at-bats Monday against the pitching machine. Instead, she acknowledges it likely will take time for the Lady Patriots to gain experience, to develop confidence, and to learn how to win. Until those things happen, Ellis will keep learning and keep working hard.
“He has talked to us a lot about it might not be this year but each year we’re building up to it,” Ellis said. “I think we have made a lot of progress from when we first started.”
Caitlin McLain is another player who has experienced change with Harris as coach. Like Ellis, McLain, who played third base last season and will be the team’s catcher this year, likes what the team has done so far.
“I feel like we got really used to the way things were and our coaches and what we could get away with and what we can’t,” McLain said. “Coach Harris makes it really clear what we can and can’t get away with. I think we are on our best behavior, and we’re just hoping to have a good season because our last couple of seasons haven’t been that great.”
The addition of senior right-hander Madison Sears could help Heritage Academy reverse its fortunes. The transfer from in Sumter, S.C., will be the team’s No. 1 pitcher, a role she will play for the first time in her prep career. She will take the place of Allie Lowe, who Harris said opted not to play this season.
Sears said Harris’ coaching style is more laid back than she is used to, and that her new teammates have made her feel welcome. Harris has liked what he has seen from Sears, saying she is a hard thrower with four pitches.
Sears said she is looking forward to getting a chance to showcase what she has learned and to play a part in building a foundation at Heritage Academy.
“I think we have improved a lot,” Sears said. “At the beginning of practice, we weren’t hitting it off the pitching machine. Now girls are hitting it to the fence consistently, which is big improvement.
“I hope to make it to the state tournament. I think that would be really great and that we’re capable of it.”
Harris agrees, saying Heritage Academy is more than capable of finishing in the top four spots in the seven-team District 1. To bring that point home, Harris has used his state title ring as an example of what a team can accomplish if it works hard to accomplish a goal.
“I told them I don’t know if we will be a state champion by the end of the season,” Harris said. “But I do know if we don’t work toward that goal we won’t be.
“I want these girls to love the game of softball. We’re going to work hard, and we have worked hard, but I want them to enjoy it and have fun. … I want them to form a bond that it is important to them that if they don’t come to practice they let the team down. If they don’t come to work hard every day at practice, it lets the team down. With only 10 or 11 girls, you can’t afford for two or three people to have a bad day. … We are going to get more and more girls interested in this thing. We’re going to start at the elementary level and build up because I am committed to building a winner here. These girls are going to be the foundation for that.”
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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