When the Wetumpka softball team needed someone to step up this week, it always seemed to be junior pitcher and outfielder Mya Holt.
The Troy University commit was named the AHSAA Class 6A Tournament MVP after Wetumpka claimed the Class 6A state championship on Friday night.
She earned that honor by showing out both in the circle and at the batter’s box for the entirety of the tournament. In the state tournament, she went a perfect 4-0 in the circle and allowed only six earned runs while striking out 20 batters.
At the plate, she went 8-for-12 with two doubles, one triple, four RBIs, a walk-off single and the go-ahead run in an earlier game.
“It feels great (being named MVP and winning state),” Holt said. “I couldn’t have done it without my teammates and them backing me up. We were just taking every play by play. I’m beyond proud of my team and I’m excited.”
There wasn’t a fan in the ballpark who didn’t know what Holt could do at the plate, and she quickly showed them she wasn’t slowing down in the state tournament.
In Game 1, tied 1-1 in the sixth inning with Oxford, Holt drilled a 3-1 pitch to center field and stood on second with no outs. Lily Davenport doubled her in two pitches later, and Wetumpka won 2-1 an inning later.
In the winners’ bracket game against Hazel Green, Holt opened the game with a sacrifice fly then singled in the team’s third run on a single to center field. Hazel Green then cut the lead from 3-0 to 3-2, but Holt had enough of that.
She led off the next inning with a triple and later came around to score to give the Indians an insurance run.
After a rain delay, the winners bracket finale was pushed back an entire day. Holt’s biggest at-bat of the day came in an 8-8 tie ballgame in the bottom of the seventh. The Indians loaded the bases with one out, and Spanish Fort had no choice but to pitch to her.
On the first pitch of the at-bat, Holt drilled a single into center field and walked off the Toros to punch Wetumpka’s ticket to the state championship.
Wetumpka played in three one-run games during the state tournament. In those games, Holt walked one game off while scoring the go-ahead run in the other.
“In close games, we’re trying to be in it every play,” Holt said. “We just keep our heads in the game no matter if it’s a close game or a blowout. We are competing on every pitch. I’m proud of all the girls for staying in every game and getting to this point.”
Wetumpka’s biggest challenge in the tournament came against Athens, the defending Class 6A state champion. The Golden Eagles (47-11) lost an earlier game in the tournament and got sent to the loser’s bracket, but that didn’t stop them from running through the bottom half of the bracket.
Athens was 4-1 entering the state championship game, and the Golden Eagles had made quick work with their offense. They scored 52 runs in the five games they played and scored less than 10 runs only once.
During that span, Athens had 56 hits, 18 extra base hits and nine home runs.
But that was before the Golden Eagles ran into Holt in the circle.
In Wetumpka’s win over Athens in the state championship, Holt held the Golden Eagles to only two hits. She carried a perfect game into the third inning, allowing only one baserunner via error, and didn’t allow a hit until there were two outs in the sixth inning.
Athens scored its lone run on a hit and fielding error, but Holt retired seven of the next nine batters to keep the game tied and gave her offense a chance to walk off the game.
Holt worked away from the Athens hitters the entire game, even when they adjusted and started getting closer to the plate during their at-bats. No matter how close any Athens player got to the plate, it wasn’t close enough to rattle Holt.
“Mya is a dog,” Wetumpka coach Daryl Otwell said. “She works her tail off for this. She pitched great on Thursday and we had a rain delay. She threw about 200 pitches that day and another 100 or so against Spanish Fort on Friday morning and showed grit. She looked at me and said she wanted the ball again. I told her ‘Here you go. It’s yours.’ To show up and compete against such a good Athens team, what a performance for her on the big stage.”
