Wylie junior Ava Cook has accounted for 16 of the 46 home runs that the Lady Pirates’ softball team has hit this season. Photo by Oladipo Awowale / C&S Media
By David Wolman
A decade ago, the Wylie softball team had one of the top home run hitters in all of the Dallas area.
Mary Stephens was a force at the plate throughout her decorated high school career, especially her junior season – one in which she not only broke the school record for most home runs in a season with 19, but also set the DFW/North Texas area record with 19 home runs.
The DFW/North Texas area record that has since been broken by Allen High School alum Sami Hood, who hit her 20thhome run of the 2022 season April 29, 2022.
Hood’s record is on the brink of being eclipsed this year.
Melissa’s Kennedy Bradley came into last week leading all Dallas area high school softball players in home runs with 18, but just two off her mark is Wylie junior Ava Cook, who has crushed 16 round-trippers.
That mark has come as a big surprise to Cook, considering that she is in her first season as a starter. She played on Wylie’s junior varsity team as a freshman and received limited playing time as a sophomore because of all the upperclassmen that were in front of her on the team’s depth chart.
“It’s kind of overwhelming, honestly,” she said. “The past couple of years, I haven’t played that much. Now that I’m having a chance, I’m doing really good. It’s kind of hard to put into words.”
Cook, a UT-Tyler commit, was named the Fastpitch Watch National Player of the Week March 25 after she hit three home runs and four hits total with eight RBIs in a 21-0 Lady Pirates’ win over Lakeview Centennial on March 18.
Even though she had a great game individually, she was prouder of how well Wylie played as a team.
“It was really important for us to win, and I just tried to stay calm and stay within myself so that I could focus on helping my team win,” she said.
Cook isn’t the only home run threat for Wylie.
As a team, the Lady Pirates have hit 46 home runs.
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