Action Jackson takes on the load for Biggs
PUBLISHED: May 3, 2007 at 12:00 a.m. | UPDATED: July 29, 2018 at 1:28 a.m.
There's a one-trick pony in the Mid-Valley League South.
Unfortunately for any softball team that has to take on Biggs, it's a pretty good trick.
Senior pitcher Heather Jackson has undisputedly been the Wolverines' top talent this season, a year in which she's dominated from the circle. In 117 innings of work — she is Biggs' ace in the truest sense of the word — she's racked up an alarming 193 strikeouts to highlight a 10-9 season. Through 20 starts, she has 18 complete games and a 1.96 ERA.
She's also only walked 19.
"She hits her spots at will," Biggs coach Terry Williams said. "She's not the fastest pitcher and doesn't throw a lot of junk, but she's just able to put it where she wants to put it. When she's on, she mows 'em down."
Her presence is such on the Wolverines' roster that when she missed part of the season with a knee injury, followed by an ankle sprain, Biggs lost every game it played without her. The Wolverines' record is 10-13 overall, but in MVLS play they're 7-1. In three wins last week, she struck out 15, 16 and 14; on Wednesday she allowed just one hit and struck out 16 more while walking none against Hamilton. Obviously, Jackson's importance has been realized — by herself, as well.
"I have a big role. I'm a senior, so girls look up to me and they expect so much, and I don't blame them," Jackson said. "When they look at me, I have to be able to make them see confidence."
They see it, and often, as Jackson starts every game for Biggs and has been incredibly consistent for that kind of workload. Williams said the hurler takes it all in stride, despite the injuries forcing her to wear a knee brace when she pitches.
"She's really just our base, really a stalwart for us," Williams said. "She's the kind of girl that you'd like to have a whole team full of them."
As for the monster load of innings pitched, Jackson said she knows the team's success depends on her ability to go everyday — even both games of doubleheaders.
"If my arm's hurting, I can't do nothing about it," Jackson said. "I just suck it up and go out there."
She also is an expert in scouting hitters — and even herself.
"Every batter I pitch, I remember what they swung at in what counts and exactly what I threw them," she said. "I try to hit my spots and I don't think they can hit it if I do. I pitch for strikeouts."
She credited much of her success to four-year pitching coach Don Deathridge, who introduced Jackson's drop ball (what she calls her "killer pitch"). In fact, Jackson's entire arsenal — two drops, a curve, a rise ball and a changeup — came from Deathridge, and to her success, Jackson has executed them. And, of course, her amazing accuracy — Biggs coaches insist she hasn't thrown a wild pitch all season — has been part of the formula the Wolverines have taken advantage of since her return.
"I want to get ahead in the count and work my way from there," Jackson said. "Once they're behind, they have to catch up to me. They usually can't."