NACC’s Edwards named ASWA Community College Athlete of the Year

Story by Tommy Hicks/The ASWA

Addie Edwards made quite the impression in her first season as a member of the Northeast Alabama Community College softball team. And not just with her teammates.

The Chatsworth, Georgia native stepped immediately into the No. 1 starter role on the Mustangs' pitching staff and proved she was ready for the designation. Not only did she lead her team to the Alabama Community College Conference championship, the hard-throwing right-hander led Northeast to the National Junior College Athletic Association Division I national championship.

Pitching every inning of every game the Mustangs played in the national tournament, Edwards was named the tournament's "Best Pitcher." She was also the ACCC's Pitcher of the Year.

She now adds another title to her collection as the Alabama Sports Writers Association (ASWA) Community College Athlete of the Year. Edwards will be presented with her award at the ASWA's annual awards banquet at Jacksonville State University on Sunday.

"Addie put together one of the best seasons in junior college history," Northeast head coach Joe Guthrie said. "She's one of the most mentally tough pitchers I've ever seen."

Her stats for the season are stellar. Edwards was 34-0 with an earned run average of 1.12 across 211.2 innings pitched. She faced 814 batters, striking out 219 and allowing just 35 walks. She made an appearance in 38 games, producing three saves.

In the national championship tournament, Edwards pitched 33 innings, allowing 27 hits and nine walks while striking out 27 of the 112 batters she faced. She threw 493 pitches in the tournament.

"It's been really amazing," the freshman said of the season. "Coming from a background of winning in a high school (Heritage High School), I wanted to come in here and help this team come from a losing record, as everybody knows, to a winning record and help start the program and just really winning it. Staying to the last day of the tournament and winning, it just makes you feel really accomplished. Knowing that I did it for the sophomores, or I helped do it for the sophomores, it just felt great, and knowing that this whole team, we really did deserve it as a whole team. We worked so hard in our practices, and we took each game one at a time. Each time we kept winning, we just got more confident. It just helped us eventually win in the end."

Edwards said being called on to pitch every inning of the tournament is a challenge she has faced in the past.

"I have a background of throwing many, many innings, so I knew that I could do it," she said. "Just pushing myself and telling myself I wasn't tired really helped me finish. I knew if I did end up getting tired, I had a pitching staff behind me that could help finish. And having my defense behind me helped me not throw as many pitches. They made amazing plays. But, again, I came from a background of pitching a lot, so my endurance was just up there. … I never really got tired until the games were over. I just knew I had to push through and that if I didn't think I was tired, I wouldn't be tired."

She said she is pleased to win the ASWA Community College Athlete of the Year award.

"It means a lot, especially knowing that my little self would be so proud of me because for a while there when I was beginning as a pitcher, nobody really believed in me because I was tiny and I used to have a really bad attitude," she said. "But if I was to look at my younger self and say that I've accomplished this award, I think she'd be so proud and be like, you know, that's amazing. It just feels great knowing that I got this award."