Glenwood’s McKenna Gillespie named All-Bi-City Spring Softball Player of the Year

Glenwood senior pitcher McKenna Gillespie fondly remembers her first meeting with head coach Dusty Perdue and her Lady Gators teammates.

Gillespie, then a sophomore, had just transferred to Glenwood from Springwood. She had high expectations for herself as a Lady Gator, but as the meeting began, it became clear that Perdue had lofty objectives for her, too.

“Coach Perdue said, ‘Whether we win a state championship or not depends on our pitching,’” Gillespie said. “It was my first year there, and it was like he was putting all the pressure on me at that point. I loved it, and I took that and ran with it.”

Gillespie isn’t exaggerating about running with the challenge. In her three seasons, Glenwood captured three AISA Class 3A state championships. She did not disappoint in her senior season, pitching 207 innings, grabbing 26 victories, striking out 225 batters and posting a 1.87 ERA. She was no slouch at the plate, either, slamming 16 home runs and collecting 63 hits and 53 RBIs.

Thanks to her efforts on the mound and in the batter’s box, Gillespie is the 2017 All-Bi-City Spring Softball Player of the Year.

Gillespie ended the year on a high note, but her situation was much bleaker about one month into the season. Gillespie tore her right quad but did her best to play through the pain, a task that became tougher as the time went by. Perdue began to suspect something was amiss, given one of his fastest players was struggling to even sprint.

After initially shaking Perdue’s inquiries off, Gillespie finally relented and told him the truth. She saw a doctor, who diagnosed the torn quad and advised her to stop playing for a spell.

Gillespie estimated that she missed about 10 games of her senior season, which proved trying.

“It was awful,” Gillespie said. “I had to sit out my Senior Night. I begged coach Perdue the entire week to let me play on Senior Night, so he let me play the first inning and last inning. I knew my team could do it, so I just sat on the bench and cheered them on the entire time.”

Gillespie returned for Glenwood’s region tournament and helped propel the team to the two-day state tournament. She didn’t let up as the Lady Gators barrelled through the competition, ultimately pitching a complete game with three hits allowed and 14 strikeouts in the title-clinching win over Northside Methodist Academy. She also delivered her final home run of her career in the game, a solo shot that put the Lady Gators ahead 5-0.

“I felt complete,” Gillespie said. “I knew when I came to Glenwood as a sophomore, I knew I was going there to win a state championship.”

Gillespie’s outstanding play on the field didn’t happen by accident, according to Perdue.

“She’s been really special for us the past three years, not just her senior year,” Perdue said. “She is a softball robot. She has put all her life the last six or seven years into softball from the summers to the regular season to travel ball. She has gotten everything she’s wanted and worked for.”

Gillespie is set to play collegiately now that her Glenwood days are done, though it’s not at the school she initially expected.

Auburn showed a great deal of interest, but Samford’s coaches also caught wind of her and saw her pitch during a tournament her freshman year. Gillespie’s travel ball coach relayed that Samford had invited her to a camp, giving her a chance to see the campus and facilities up close.

“I went, and I absolutely fell in love with the campus,” Gillespie said. “After talking to (head coach Mandy Burford) and seeing how the players gelled and seeing how the coaches gelled with the players, it felt like that was the place God wanted me to be and the place where I wanted to be. She wound up offering me my sophomore year, and I accepted it as soon as she said it.”

Gillespie may have been an outsider when Perdue threw the gauntlet down in that first meeting two years ago, but it didn’t take long before she settled in and surged to the forefront of the team. She surpassed her goal of winning a state championship by walking away with three but also cherishes the chance she had just to be a Glenwood Lady Gator.

“It meant the world to me,” Gillespie said. “I really became close with all the coaches. I know I’ll come back and talk to them and all the girls. At other schools I’ve been to, I was close with the girls I played with, but it wasn’t like family. I feel super close with these girls, I know that me going there was the right decision.”

This story was originally published June 22, 2017 at 6:46 PM with the headline "Glenwood’s McKenna Gillespie named All-Bi-City Spring Softball Player of the Year."