Scotts Hill's Bartholomew worked with grandfather

JACKSON – Scotts Hill junior softball player Harley Bartholomew didn’t have a bad season at the plate overall in 2016.

In fact, she was one of the better hitters on the Lady Lions team that made the program’s first appearance in the Class A state tournament last year.

But she didn’t like how she finished the season.

Her grandfather, Ken Reed, said he could help with some old fashioned methods of getting better at making contact.

“He told me I needed to hit bottle caps with smaller sticks like a broomstick or something like that,” Bartholomew said. “At first I was like ‘What?’ but then I got out there and tried to do it.

“He was a good pitcher when he was younger, and he still is because he was taking those metal Coke bottle caps that go on glass jars and throwing curve balls and screw balls at me. I had to try to hit them. He said if I could make contact with that, I can make contact with a bat and a softball.”

That wasn’t Reed’s only thing he did with his granddaughter. He has a pitching machine in his barn.

“He’s got this old barn with a big room on one side of it with a pitching machine, and it’s big enough I can take pitches,” Bartholomew said. “And he’s got a net up behind the machine so I don’t take the barn wall out with a bunch of line drives or something like that.”

Scotts Hill head coach Tyler Sowell said he can tell a difference in Bartholomew’s performance at the plate.

“She’s making better contact with the ball, and she’s helped us drive in runs and get on base herself to be driven in,” Sowell said. “I just appreciate the fact that she wanted to get better bad enough she was willing to put in that kind of work.

“That’s how the girls on this team are. They want to get better, no matter how they do it. Harley’s just blessed to have a grandfather that can help her out.”

Reach Brandon Shields at bjshields@jacksonsun.com or at 425-9751. Follow him on Twitter @JSEditorBrandon or on Instagram at jacksonsunsports.