Lacye Walker now can add “pitching instructor” to her softball resume.
Walker has played at the Amateur Softball Association’s elite national level as a member of the Tennessee Fury 18-under Gold fastpitch team. Among her other exploits, she’s twice been selected all-state by the Tennessee Sports Writers Association and last year she helped Grace Academy to a runner-up finish in the TSSAA Class A state tournament.
Walker, whose senior year at Grace started Monday, returned Sunday from Huntington Beach, Calif., where she had been competing for the Fury in the ESPN Rise national championships. Tournament organizer Garland Cooper, a former All-America first baseman at Northwestern University and the softball editor for ESPN Rise, approached Fury 18-under Gold coach Pat Moyer and asked if he had anyone who specialized in a particular area of the game and would be willing to collaborate on a video.
Cooper had known Moyer from having previously written a story about Fury softball. She also attended the Fury organization’s Scenic City 16s fastpitch exposure tournament at Warner Park in June 2009.
Walker has worked with local pitching instructor and Chattanooga State coach Beth Keylon-Randolph throughout her career. She also has the luxury of seeking pitching advice from older sisters Brittney and TIffany, both of whom pitched at the college level, as well as father Alan, the Fury’s pitching coach.