ROSE BUD — Harmony Grove softball coach Sammi Massey coached against a long list of great players in 18 years, but she hasn’t seen anyone quite as dominant as Rose Bud junior Joley Mitchell. That’s why when Harmony Grove played Rose Bud for the second time this season in the Class 3A state-championship game, she took the bat out of Mitchell’s hands, intentionally walking her three times. Mitchell recorded a conventional walk in the first at-bat. As a result, Harmony Grove scored a 4-2 win.
“My game plan was, if there was anyone on, I was going to walk her because if no one is in front of her, she is so fast, she is going to steal and score,” Massey said. “I haven’t encountered a player with that kind of talent. Not only can she hit and field, but she is fast. She’s a different kind of player.”
Mitchell handled the strategy with grace but isn’t a fan of the new rule that allows a coach to point to first base to award the intentional walk.
“I want more than anything to hit and help my team win,” Mitchell said. “There is nothing I could really do; she took me out of the game. That was pretty smart of [Massey] to limit me to one bag.
“It’s a little frustrating, and with the new rule, you don’t even have a chance. If the pitcher had to throw the ball, I’d swing twice and have two strikes and make them pitch to me. It’s cool that coaches think that much of me as a hitter that they would do that.”
For the third-straight season, the third baseman/catcher commanded the opposition’s attention as one of the state’s top players, regardless of class. She hit .659 with a state-leading 24 home runs and 71 RBI, which more than doubled her mark from her sophomore year. The eye-popping stats were good for her third-straight all-state honor and her consecutive Three Rivers Edition Player of the Year honor.
Rose Bud finished 30-2 after winning the state championship in 2017.
“We play well as a team. Everyone knows what they have to do,” Mitchell said. “My teammates did a good job of stepping up when they needed to this year.”
Even before she became an upperclassman, Mitchell was a focal point of the team with her unusual ability and commitment to the University of Missouri as an eighth-grader.
“When I was younger, I always played up a division against older kids,” she said. “That was a good learning experience to keep me humble and let me know I am not always going to be the best player.”
Mitchell will try to lead the Lady Ramblers back to their fourth-straight title game next year and finish with two for her career. The stinging loss to Massey’s team in May will stick in the craw of the star and her teammates for the remainder of the offseason.
“It’s been three weeks, and I think about it every day,” Mitchell said. “When I see people, and they bring it up, it makes me sad. We played pretty good as a team, but we just left too many people on base.
“It’s tough for those seniors who did so much for us, but I think it will be a lot of motivation for us coming back. We have a good group of players returning, and we should be as good or even better.”
Mitchell will do her part this summer to be ready. She flies to a tournament every weekend through July 29 to play with top players from around the country on the New Jersey Intensity travel team. When she’s at home, she will work out of the facility that her dad, Skip Mitchell, built 10 miles from their home. The building houses workout equipment and a cage, and Joley Mitchell splits her time between working out and taking cuts while her dad gives lessons to aspiring players.
She follows the same routine on weeknights during the school year. The only difference is that her mom, Alexis, who is a teacher, ensures that her daughter does her schoolwork before she works out. The discipline has paid off, as Mitchell owns a 4.0 grade-point average and is in line to be her class’s valedictorian.
“My parents have done so much for me,” she said. “They’ve made a lot of sacrifices, and I appreciate them paying for me to play in the tournaments. I think it has paid off with a college scholarship.”
Mitchell took to softball early and gave up basketball by junior high school. She runs track but only competes in the district and state meets. Last year, she qualified for state in the discus and 4x100-meter relay. This year she qualified in the 4x100, shot put and discus, which she placed eighth in.
That scholarship offer came from Mizzou when Mitchell was only 12. She has stayed true to the Tigers, even though the school fired Ehren Earlywhine a few weeks before last season. Mitchell said she is excited about new coach Larissa Anderson. Even with Earlywhine’s departure and Arkansas’ fast rise to the Super Regionals, Mitchell says she remains firmly committed to the Tigers.
With all of her plans firmly in place, she is focused on making sure her final season ends with a fourth-straight title-game appearance and her second-straight title.
She hopes this time, she can get some pitches to hit.