IWA’s well-woven Webb
Published 10:49 pm Wednesday, June 4, 2014
Trish Webb of Suffolk has been a pitcher and third baseman for years, but 2014 marked the first season her prowess on the mound was fully unleashed on behalf of Isle of Wight Academy.
The results were outstanding. She led the Lady Chargers to a Metro Conference tournament championship, after which she was named the conference Player of the Year.
![Isle of Wight Academy sophomore Trish Webb emerged as a force for her team in the Metro Conference and the state during the 2014 season.](https://www.suffolknewsherald.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2014/06/IMG_6966.jpg)
Isle of Wight Academy sophomore Trish Webb emerged as a force for her team in the Metro Conference and the state during the 2014 season.
IWA finished the season with a 13-5 record, as she also helped the team reach the state semifinals at the Division II level of the Virginia Independent Schools Athletic Association. She received her first all-state recognition, making the first team.
“This year, it was definitely a good experience,” Webb said. “It was good being able to step up and pitch every game.”
She took the mound twice in relief, but started every other game, finishing with an 11-5 record, a 0.73 ERA and 146 strikeouts.
Webb has played on IWA’s varsity team since eighth grade, but there was always somebody older who filled the pitching position. This year, the Lady Chargers had only one senior and two juniors.
Isle of Wight head coach Jill Edwards said that after last season’s pitcher graduated, she opted to go with Webb, because “she’s a phenomenal pitcher, she hits her spots well. She throws several different pitches, and she throws them all well.”
Those pitches include a drop, a rise, a curve ball, a change-up and a fastball.
Webb said she has pitched and played third base her entire career, including for three different travel ball teams, but admitted becoming the primary thrower for IWA was still a challenge.
“It was a lot of pressure, but it was good, because my team always had my back,” she said.
Edwards also praised Webb for her offensive contributions. In 56 at-bats, she had a batting average of .482, producing 27 hits and 22 runs batted in.
Explaining why she has had such a great year, Webb said, “I’ve practiced a lot. I’ve been training and training, so the repetitions that I’ve done, when it comes down to the actual situation, I’m just used to it.”
Those repetitions started when she was 4, playing T-ball. Later, when she was 7, she went straight from coach-pitch to fastpitch softball.
Now 16, she has honed her talents on travel ball teams such as Galaxy Fastpitch, the Yorktown Revolution and the Williamsburg Stars, the latter of which she competes with now.
She is determined to play Division I softball, and her mother, Cheryl Webb, said Trish’s dual success on the mound and at third base for her different teams has actually created a difficult decision.
“Right now, we’re looking at colleges, and it’s kind of been hard to know which direction to pursue,” Cheryl Webb said.
While colleges cannot formally contact her yet, they can and have been inviting her to camps, some of which she will visit this summer.