TGCA Legacy All-Star
RANCI WILLIS
F
“...Nobody is born a great softball player. If you put the work in, you’re going to get great results.”
by Steve Gamel | photo courtesy of Jeff Woo with the Denton Record-Chronicle
ormer Guyer softball pitcher Ranci Willis may be done with high school and on her way to pitch at Texas Tech, but that hasn’t stopped her from being recognized for her dominant senior season just a few more times. Willis, who broke the Lady Wildcats’ single-season school record for strikeouts with 287 punchouts while leading Guyer to the Class 6A Region I quarterfinal, was one of only 20 seniors from across the state named to the Texas Girls Coaches Association Class 5A-6A Legacy AllStar team on June 9. She followed that by being named the Denton RecordChronicle’s All-Area Softball MVP less than a month later. “[My biggest takeaway] is definitely competing — just having a mindset of wanting to win,” Willis told the DRC after her latest accolades. “You never know when your last game is going to be. You have to play your heart out now.”
Willis...was one of only 20 seniors from across the state named to the Texas Girls Coaches Association Class 5A-6A Legacy All-Star team. 14 | LAKE CITIES LIVING | AUGUST 2021
Willis transferred to Guyer from Boerger following her freshman season. Her breakout season came in 2021 when she started 27 of Guyer’s 30 games and finished 22-1 in the circle. Her stats were video game-esque as she boasted a 1.10 ERA while allowing just 30 hits. That made her a no-brainer for both awards, especially the TGCA honor. TGCA Legacy All-Star team members are selected by softball member coaches of the association. Willis was the only softball player from Denton County to make this year’s TGCA Legacy roster. “We always say there’s no secret formula to this. Nobody is born a great softball player. If you put the work in, you’re going to get great results,” Guyer coach Keith Medford said of Willis in an interview with the DRC. www.LiveLocalMagazines.com
