BRISTOL, Tenn. — Celebrate every win.
That is how Carly Compton approaches her craft in the circle when blowing fastballs in excess of 70 miles per hour past batters and then celebrating with a scream of delight and perhaps even beating her leg or chest with her glove.
“That is the way I have been trained. I have been trained in pressure situations and this game is a game of failure,” said Compton, the Tennessee High junior pitcher, who turned 18 on Thursday. “You are going to fail and the game is not always forgiving so you have to celebrate every single win that you get.”
That is where her demonstrative style comes from, and she backs it up on the field.
“Just like we say a lot of people don’t like me yelling, but it is the same thing,” said Compton, who retired the final 13 batters in the Vikings’ 11-1 District 1-AAA championship game victory over David Crockett on Thursday at Rotary Field. “If I give up a bomb I am going to have to sit there for 45 seconds and hear everyone screaming and stomping and everything else.
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“You just celebrate the little wins because in this game, especially the further that you go and the higher that you play, little wins are what keeps you going and keeps your momentum.”
Compton knows all about winning, having led Tazewell to the Class 2 state championship last season before making the switch and landing at Tennessee High. She has committed to a college future at the University of North Carolina.
“It has been such a blessing. I think the competition here in Tennessee is better, which I love because I want to be challenged, especially going to UNC, my coaches want me to be challenged,” Compton said. “I am depending on travel ball to do that, but coming here, I love it.
“All the girls want to win, there is an eager to win, I love practice, I love practicing now and we work in the offseason too and most of these girls play travel ball so coming here honestly has been a blessing.”
Compton, who wasn’t her dominating self earlier in the week while still recovering from an illness, bounced back nicely on Thursday, striking out 10 of the 17 batters she faced against David Crockett. The five outs that didn’t involve a whiff were five infield outs, three of which she made on her own.
That is type of performance that Tennessee High head coach David Boggs has grown accustomed to seeing from Compton, who has picked up the nickname “Peacock.”
“She is one fiery young lady. Sometimes we have to rein her in just a little bit and say ‘Hey, we love the fire, let’s just make sure we don’t do something to give them an edge’.” Boggs said. She is very humble, she is very sportsmanlike, she just gets fired up. If you don’t know her you just don’t understand it because it could be misunderstood.
“We started calling her ‘Peacock’ because she does, whether she is pitching good or if things are going her way or not. She has got a little strut about her and she needs that. That is good, she is accomplished, doesn’t let things rattle her and if anything it just fires her up more.”
That is bad news for the opposition, not only in the circle, but Compton regularly sends balls over the Rotary Field fence for home runs. That didn’t happen on Thursday, reaching twice on errors, but the Vikings scored 11 runs over the final two innings, sparked by a two-run home run from freshman Addison Glover.
“I have said this since day since before I even stepped on the field here at Tennessee High, 1 through 9 is dangerous, all of us are dangerous,” Compton said. “Coming in I even told my dad our lineup is one I would not want to throw to. It doesn’t matter if you are a freshman, it doesn’t matter if you are a senior, all of us can produce and we can all do it at any time at any given point.”
Addie Wilhoit and Macie Strouth added three hits each and Abby Haga drove in three runs in the Vikings’ fourth wins in four tries over the Pioneers.
“Carly said it best when she first came over here and we started talking about it, she said where she has played at in the past a lot of times she has to be a big part of the team,” Boggs said. “She is obviously a huge part of this team, but she has got a lot of talent around her supporting her and it takes a lot of pressure off of her and frees her up to do things and relax a little. I think that makes a huge difference.”
Definitely. Compton said her teammates knew she was struggling on Tuesday, but they backed her up with their play in the field and at the plate.
“I would even say I am kind of sad that I wasn’t here for my freshman year because everyone wants it and that is something I love and not everything is depending on me,” Compton said. “I know if I struggle, just like Tuesday.
“Tuesday wasn’t really my sharpest, but I knew I had nine girls behind me and they told me. ‘Look, we know you are going off being sick, we have your back” and that is exactly what happened. That is such a relief as a pitcher.”
Glover said the feeling is mutual with the rest of the team.
“We all believe in her, but she also believes in us,” Glover said. “We help her and we back her up.”
“This whole ball team, they are one big family,” added Boggs. “They stay behind each other and they push, they just don’t want to be the one to let each other down.”
Compton spent last week recuperating from an illness, and credited Dr. Eric Shrader in Tazewell for nursing her back to health. Shrader was an athlete himself, having played basketball at the University of Maryland.
“They literally gave me every type of medicine under the sun,” Compton said. “Dr. Shrader in Tazewell, I have known him since I was little and he always makes sure I am ready to go back on the field no matter what. I don’t get sick a lot, but when I do he is the first person I call and he gets me back on the field within three days, absolutely. I love him.”
Tennessee High (22-4) will host either Greeneville or Grainger in the Region 1-AAA tournament on Monday. The Vikings hope to add wins on Wednesday and Friday to earn a berth in the Class 1-AAA state tournament in Murfreesboro.
Compton has celebrated winning a state championship. Now she wants to do it again.
“Absolutely. Our goal is to come back with the ring. I personally would like to win a 2A state championship and add a 3A championship to it,” Compton said. “I think it is harder to win a 3A state championship and that is something I would love to put on my record. I know we can do it, but like we say all the time, we have to take it one pitch, one game, one batter at a time.
“If we just do the little things and we keep working our butts off than I know we are going to do it. Lord willing, we are going to do it, but we have just got to be patient and just take it one game at a time, we can’t overlook anyone, absolutely.”