All-Arkansas Preps Softball Player of the Year: Autumn Humes, junior pitcher, Bald Knob

Dual threat

Junior delivers at plate, in circle

Bald Knob junior pitcher Autumn Humes finished the season with a 26-1 record and 0.41 earned-run average, but she also batted .543 and hit 11 home runs.
Bald Knob junior pitcher Autumn Humes finished the season with a 26-1 record and 0.41 earned-run average, but she also batted .543 and hit 11 home runs.

Autumn Humes hit 11 home runs and drove in 67 runs this season. She also pitched eight no-hitters and struck out 246.

Suffice to say, the Bald Knob junior had a very good season.

Humes at a glance

SCHOOL Bald Knob

CLASS Senior

POSITION Pitcher

STATS 26-1, 0.41 earned-run average, 246 strikeouts; batted .543 with 11 home runs and 67 RBI

NOTEWORTHY Helped lead the Lady Bulldogs to the Class 3A state championship. … Pitched eight no-hitters and allowed nine earned runs in 155 innings this season. … Her father is Bald Knob Coach Chris Humes.

"This was an amazing year," said Humes, who led the Lady Bulldogs to a 30-2 record and the Class 3A state championship. "I'm so thankful for my teammates and the year we had. I just hope next year can be as good."

Humes, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette's All-Arkansas Preps Softball Player of the Year, set the bar high for her senior season. She was a terror at the plate as a junior, hitting a team-high .543. She was even tougher in the circle, where she allowed only 9 earned runs in 155 innings, an earned-run average of 0.41.

"When Autumn is off, she's really good," said Harding Academy Coach Rusty Garner, whose team has faced Bald Knob 10 times the past two seasons. "And when she's on, she's dominant."

Chris Humes, who is Autumn's father and coach, said his daughter has been working on her pitching since she was 9 and she has kept her repertoire of pitches to a minimum.

"She doesn't have a lot of pitches, but what she does have, she throws well," Chris Humes said. "We concentrate more on the batters' eye level. She'll throw the same pitches in different locations. I think that's more important than the number of different pitches."

"Eventually, I think I'll add a few different pitches," Autumn said. "As the competition gets better, I'll need some backup pitches that will need to be effective."

Garner said Humes does not appear intimidating in the circle, but other factors make Humes tough to solve.

"Honestly, we've faced other pitchers who throw harder," Garner said. "Her velocity is good, but her location and movement of her pitches is what makes her stand out. ... If you see a pitcher more than once, that's usually an advantage to the hitter, but the way she played against us in the championship game, it just left us shaking our heads.

"We had seen her enough this season. We felt like we were prepared, and I think we might have had one solid hit against her the entire game. The way she pitched that game, I would have put her against anybody."

Although her batting and pitching statistics have attracted the attention of some Division I programs, Humes said she is committed to Division II Harding University.

"I used to think that I wanted to play Division I, but the reality is that [playing Division I] isn't as important as other things," Humes said. "I have a strong faith in God, and that's the most important thing.

"I also want to go to a school where I can start as a freshman. I want to contribute immediately."

Sports on 06/07/2015

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