ATHLETE OF THE WEEK: Landree Amis a spark plug and a scout at Newton County’s leadoff spot

Published 5:28 pm Wednesday, May 1, 2019

DECATUR — As a catcher since her sophomore year at Newton County, Landree Amis has worked with pitchers Brittany Thomas and Shelby Anderson for three seasons.

That experience has given her a front-row seat to watch good pitching and learn how her fellow seniors attack hitters. In turn, Amis has developed a good eye as a hitter, which prompted the Newton County coaching staff to move her from the five-hole to the leadoff spot in the lineup.

Last week against East Central and Purvis, Amis was 7-for-17 (.412) with two home runs, two doubles and two walks as the team’s leadoff batter. Her performance acted as a spark plug as the Lady Cougars overcame a Game 1 loss to East Central in the opening round of the MHSAA Class 4A playoff and won Games 2 and 3, and she also helped Newton County to a second-round sweep of Purvis.

Because of her performance, Amis was named The Meridian Star’s Athlete of the Week. She said she and her fellow seniors — Karlye Tolbird, Anderson and Thomas — have all been playing with a sense of urgency, which has translated onto the field.

“It feels really good,” Amis said. “I’ve worked my butt off to help the team, and this is our last run with the Lady Cougars, so we’re trying to go out with a ring.”

The move from the No. 5 hitter to the leadoff position happened around spring break in March, and Lady Cougars head coach Justin Chaney said he felt like the team has taken off since the switch was made. Amis said her goal is to, at the very least, run up the count against opposing pitchers and allow her teammates to get a sense of what’s coming. So far, Chaney hasn’t regretting the decision to bat her first.

“She has a competitive fight, and she has a keen sense of the game,” Chaney said. “I can’t tell you how many times the count has gone 3-2 and we’ve seen every pitch before the first (at-bat) is over. She’s a coach on the field there, and she’s a coach on the field behind the plate. If she gets on, I like our chances.”

The main thing Amis has learned to recognize from catching Thomas and Anderson is spin, she said, and it’s allowed her to see the ball well enough to work counts.

“A little over halfway (before it crosses the plate), I know whether or not I’m going to swing,” Amis said.

Moving to leadoff has also been a confidence booster for Amis.

“It makes me feel like my coaches have a lot of confidence in me,” Amis said. “Sometimes I don’t have confidence in myself, but they believe in me enough to put me in that position.”

Sometimes it takes past disappointment to give a team a little extra motivation, and Newton County remembers getting eliminated in Game 3 last season against Lawrence County in the playoffs. The Lady Cougars are also coming off a Game 3 loss in the Class II slow-pitch championship this past fall, and Amis said the team has been putting in even more work than usual under Chaney, who was already a demanding coach.

“I’ve never seen us work this hard,” Amis said. “Losing in fast-pitch and slow-pitch the way we did… we didn’t even take a day off after slow-pitch was over, and Coach usually gives us a week off.”

Chaney said he’s noticed the uptick in focus, and he credits his four seniors for helping fan those flames.

“We talk about Lawrence County from last year a good bit,” Chaney said. “I can remember when we got down 0-1 against East Central last week, and I didn’t say a lot the next day just because of the four leaders we have in our locker room that are seniors. They don’t do a lot of talking, they just do it with their actions, and that can be a powerful thing sometimes.”

Newton County loss to East Central 2-1 on April 22 in Game 1 of the first round before winning two at home the next day to advance. While the Game 1 loss put the Lady Cougars on the cusp of elimination, Amis said she and her teammates never panicked.

“We knew going in that we had confidence we could beat that team,” Amis said. “Sometimes teams have bad games. We didn’t talk about it, but we knew if we didn’t get our stuff together, it would be the end.”

That calm confidence comes from experience, Chaney said. 

“There are things this year that have happened that we maybe went over a year and a half ago, and maybe they come up in a situation, and I go over there and talk to them, and this is the most pressure point in the game, and you look at them and they’re calm,” Chaney said. “It’s because they’ve been there. They’ve been through all that. It’s been such a blessing to coach them. I enjoy it, and I hope to continue to enjoy it for a little longer.”

Amis and the other three seniors will graduate soon, and she said it’s beginning to sink in that high school softball is coming to an end for them. Her one wish is for it to end with a Class 4A state championship trophy in their hands.

“We’ve talked about it a lot,” Amis said. “We graduate in a little over two weeks, and we feel like now we’re really putting the work in.”