Spring break is a fun time for high school teams.
There's no school to worry about before games. For softball teams, it's seven innings of fun during the day if they play a game. Northview took advantage of those softball-only days with six games against Alabama-based teams. The Chiefs went 4-2 during the week, beating Robertsdale, Thomasville, Excel and TR Miller in the process.
During the tournament, McAnally had a combined five hits, including a double and a home run against Robertsdale. She added six runs and four RBIs. At the circle, McAnally made three appearances. She had 4 1/3 innings pitched against Robertsdale with seven strikeouts; and complete games over Thomasville (13 strikeouts) and TR Miller (10 strikeouts).
For her efforts, McAnally won the PNJ Athlete of the Week award, sponsored by Florida Power and Light, after mustering 37.94% of the poll's votes the following week on the PNJ's website. Each weekly winner is awarded a one-of-a-kind PNJ Athlete of the Week shirt.
Here's a question-and-answer session with McAnally after she spoke with PNJ Sports Reporter Ben Grieco.
Q&A with Northview softball's Mikayla McAnally
PNJ: Talk about your sophomore season as a whole. How have things been going for you?
Mikayla McAnally: “It’s been really good, actually. My goals, I’m establishing them and getting them done.”
PNJ: How important is it for you to be able to do it all, between pitching, fielding and hitting?
MA: “I like it. You see all sides of the field. It’s just a different experience.”
PNJ: The week you won Athlete of the Week, you had a busy six-game week. How did things go overall?
MA: “Those games went really well for us. They were tight games, so they were fun to play in. The competition was good.”
PNJ: Are spring break games any different, not having to go to school and just play softball?
MA: “You just show up. We don’t ride the bus together, so it’s a bit different.”
PNJ: We’re nearing the end of the regular season. Have you, as a team, talked about goals for the end of the season?
MA: “We want to win state. That’s our biggest goal.”
PNJ: You mentioned some individual goals. What are those?
MA: “One of my goals this year was to be one of the best hitters on the team. Also, doubling my strikeouts from last year.”
PNJ: Now for some quick ones. Do you have any pregame superstitions or ...
