ALL-AREA SOFTBALL 2009: Tyson, McLemore share Pitcher of the Year honors

Glenwood’s Ollivia McLemore and Central’s Erin Tyson grew up playing softball together.

McLemore said she and Tyson pitched on the same travel ball team from the time they were “10 and under” to “14 and under.”

And Tyson throws pretty good — for a lefty.

“We used to joke because she was always older than me, but I was always taller than her,” McLemore said. “I love her to death. I kind of look up to her because she’s a dominant left-hander, and that’s not easy.”

McLemore and Tyson each did their fair share of dominating this season, and share this year’s Opelika-Auburn News softball Pitcher of the Year honors.

Tyson, a junior lefty, posted a 20-6 record and a 0.43 ERA for the Red Devils, who came within one game of making the state playoffs in Class 6A. She was named honorable mention All-State and struck out 242 batters in 161 innings (10.52 per seven innings).

McLemore, a sophomore righty, went 18-2 with a 0.88 ERA for the Gators, who won their first AISA fast-pitch state championship. She was first-team All-State and struck out 165 batters in 127 innings (9.09 per seven innings).

McLemore’s numbers would probably have been stronger if not for one thing — she completely tore her labrum and suffered a 30-40 percent rotator cuff tear last summer.

She had corrective surgery last September, and her doctors said it would be six to eight months before she could throw again.

They felt differently after her first therapy session, when they asked her to do a range of motion test on her injured shoulder and she was able to raise her arm over her head.

“They said, ‘Well, I guess we can skip the first month of therapy,’” McLemore said.

McLemore was held to a 35-pitch count early in the season, which gradually increased as the season went on.

She said it was frustrating being pulled from games when she was still pitching well and not being able to bring the heat as much as she had before the injury.

But there was a beneficial side effect: it forced her to develop more of a finesse game.

“I’ve been working on my snaps more, because I can’t get by on just heat,” McLemore said. “That’s not going to fly in college.”

Tyson also battled through injuries that hindered her production as a sophomore.

But it would be difficult to find any remnants of those hardships in her production as a junior, a fact she credited to the Red Devils’ offseason conditioning.

They’ve already started four-hour, four-times-a-week sessions in preparation for next spring.

“We just went after it,” Tyson said. “We were constantly working and strengthening to keep us from getting injuries.”

This helped her the most down the stretch, when she emerged from a virtual lock with senior Rachel Harp to become the Red Devils’ go-to pitcher in the post-season.

“You know every day exactly what you’re going to get out of her,” Central coach Bobby Cook said. “You know day after day after day after day, she’s going to give you a great performance. She’s going to give you the best she can.”

dmorrison@oanow.com | 737-2568