Neshoba Central pitcher Aspen Wesley, third from left, signs Thursday morning to continue her softball career at Mississippi State. Pictured with her are, from left, brother Gage Wesley, mother Whitney Wesley and father Kent Wesley.

Kent Wesley remembers the distinct sound of the softballs smashing against the brick wall.

His then-6-year-old daughter, Aspen, recently attended a softball game and had become enamored by the sport. So he drew a square on a brick wall and gave his young daughter a bucket of softballs. 

“I got chalk and I drew on a brick on the back of the house and she just started pitching,” he said. “We would sit inside and you could hear a thud on the wall… She was just natural at it.”

Aspen Wesley’s softball evolution came full circle Thursday as Kent, her mother Whitney, teammates, coaches and family joined the senior as she signed to play softball at Mississippi State University during a ceremony at Neshoba Central High School.

Thursday’s ceremony also carried added significance for the Lady Rockets pitcher as it fell on her 18th birthday. 

“National Signing Day is usually on Nov. 14, and I told myself it would be so cool to sign on my birthday,” she said. “So that’s what I did, and I think it’s so special that I got to do it on my birthday because not a lot of people can say they did that.”

Wesley’s right arm has helped propel Neshoba Central to national prominence. In June, the Lady Rockets finished the season ranked No. 1 in the USA Today Sports/NFCA High School Super 25 poll after compiling a 34-0 record this spring and sweeping Pearl River Central in the Class 5A fast-pitch state championship. The state title was Neshoba Central’s fifth consecutive in the sport.

Wesley has started for Neshoba Central since her seventh-grade year, and the numbers she’s produced during that span are stunning. She’s gone 109-4 as a starter and tallied 1,331 strikeouts against just 158 walks — and she has only been charged with 54 earned runs over her prep career. 

Neshoba Central coach Trae Embry said Wesley’s contributions to the Lady Rockets’ program are essential in more ways than just her numbers.

“To our program, she is a very valuable person,” Embry said. “She brings more than just her wins. It’s her leadership and her dedication to showing up to practice and just being on time. Even in the classroom, where she’s maintained her grades, and she participates in travel ball and school ball, which takes up a lot of her time — the work that she has to put in to be able to go and play on that high level.”

Wesley became Mississippi’s three-time Gatorade Softball Player of the Year when she was selected for the prestigious honor in June, and she’s a two-time Premier Preps of East Mississippi Softball Player of the Year.

While the individual accolades are appreciated, Wesley said her network of coaches, teammates, family and friends have been vital her success.

“They’ve been so supportive since my seventh-grade year and everything,” Wesley said. “Being a pitcher, there’s a lot of pressure, and I get text messages from them all the time saying, ‘Good luck,’ and it just really helps me.”

Although Wesley has yet to sport her new Mississippi State uniform, the school was able to get an early glimpse of the future when she and the Lady Rockets played at Mississippi State’s Nusz Park in May for the state title.  In the two-game series, Wesley recorded a 0.14 earned-run average with 31 strikeouts. She also went 3-for-7 with three RBIs and one home run. 

Wesley’s signing is sure to resonate with passionate Mississippi State softball fans around the state, but perhaps no one was happier than her mother, Whitney, who donned a white-and-maroon Mississippi State sweater and sat just to the right of her daughter during the ceremony. 

“Being only an hour away, we get to watch her play, and if we miss her, we can make a visit to go see her,” Whitney Wesley said. “We’re definitely family oriented, and we try to do a lot of things as a family with her grandmother, her uncles and aunts and everybody. It means a lot.”