Vilonia pitcher swings for Player of the Year title

Vilonia catcher Morgan Gray, left, and pitcher Sydney Wader celebrate after beating Greenbrier in the Class 5A state championship game at Bogle Park in Fayetteville last month. Wader is the 2016 River Valley & Ozarks Edition Softball Player of the Year.
Vilonia catcher Morgan Gray, left, and pitcher Sydney Wader celebrate after beating Greenbrier in the Class 5A state championship game at Bogle Park in Fayetteville last month. Wader is the 2016 River Valley & Ozarks Edition Softball Player of the Year.

For more than three years, Sydney Wader begged her Vilonia softball coach, Kevin Sullivan, to let her bat.

In late April of her senior season, he relented.

Good thing for the Lady Eagles.

In May, Wader delivered the two-out, game-winning RBI single in the eighth inning as the Lady Eagles defended their Class 5A state championship in a 5-4 win over 5A-West rival Greenbrier at the University of Arkansas’ Bogle Park.

“She had never hit in a high school game,” Sullivan said. “She kind of made me look ridiculous.”

In the bottom of the eighth, with runners at second and third, Wader also struck out the final batter to assure the win on the mound. Vilonia finished 27-7; Wader was 17-3. In the championship game, she gave up seven hits and two earned runs, struck out seven and went 2-for-4 at the plate with two RBIs.

Wader was named MVP of the Class 5A State Tournament and is the River Valley & Ozark Edition Softball Player of the Year.

“I had to absolutely beg him all four years of high school,” Wader said, chuckling. “He was so afraid I’d slide and roll my ankle. I finally convinced him I could kill the ball.”

Sullivan said that by late April, some of his batters were in a bit of a slump, so he told Wader at a tournament, “I’m going to let you swing today.”

“Her eyes lit up like it was Christmas,” he said. “I don’t think she got a base hit, but she struck it well. She seemed confident. After the game, I told her, ‘I’m not making any promises, but you showed me you can swing it a little, so you’re going to be an option if we can’t get what we need out of the others.’

“We didn’t, and our best option was her. [In the state final], she hit in the first run and the last one.”

Afterward, she told him, “I told you so” — of course.

“Yes, she did,” Sullivan said, chuckling. “She said, ‘All I’m going to say is, I tried to tell you.’”

Vilonia had split with Greenbrier in four regular-season meetings. The Lady Panthers won the 5A-West, knocking the Lady Eagles to second. In the rubber match for the state title, Greenbrier scored first before Vilonia went ahead and ultimately led, 4-3, heading to the bottom of the seventh inning.

“They were down to their last strike, and their girl hit the ball off the wall to tie the game,” Sullivan said, before Wader’s heroics at the plate.

“Anytime you get to play your conference rival, it’s exciting,” he said. “Anytime you’re in the state-title game, it’s exciting. But anytime you get to play your conference rival in the state-championship game — it doesn’t get any better than that.”

He said Wader had come a long way, especially with the mental part of her game, during her four years as a Lady Eagle.

“She struggled at times when she was younger keeping her composure in the circle, but that was the difference [in the state final],” he said. “She could’ve lost it. I’m not sure how many errors we made on the season — not many — but we made two or three in one inning, and it would’ve been very easy for her to lose her focus. But she really showed her maturity level.”

Wader said recently that the final was stressful for her.

“When I faced Greenbrier in conference, it was not the best outing I’ve had,” she said. “I was a little apprehensive about having to face them again. But there was no other way I wanted to be done with high school ball. We had a great family. It wasn’t a team; it was more like a family.”

She said while the MVP award was “pretty much the icing on the cake,” she told her best friend and catcher, Morgan Gray, they would share it.

“She’s amazing,” Wader said. “I couldn’t do it without her.”

Wader also picked up the final win last year as the Lady Eagles knocked off Paragould for their first state title since 2007.

“Both games were stressful, but Greenbrier was really stressing me out,” she said, “just that they’re our rival, and no part of me wanted to lose to them.”

She said she felt more team than individual pressure in 2016.

“I feel like people expected more of our team after how we finished last year, and we only lost three or four girls,” she said.

Wader grew up in Vilonia and has played softball since she was 6. She also played volleyball and basketball for the Lady Eagles and was a member of the Spanish Club, DECA, Future Business Leaders of America and the National Spanish Honor Society.

She had a few softball offers and ultimately chose Division I Louisiana-Monroe of the Sun Belt Conference over Southern Arkansas University. At press time, she said she was “doing tons of workouts” before heading south in August.

“My goal is to go in, earn my spot and work hard,” she said. “I know it’s not going to be handed to me, and I’m excited to face those top teams and see what I can do against them.”

At Monroe, she said, she will probably just pitch, although she plays some first base in summer ball.

And it’s no surprise that she loves to bat.

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