Troup softball seniors

TONI SOSA

By Kevin Eckleberry

Toni Sosa knows the challenge facing him is a tall one.

Sosa was a successful member of the LaGrange High boys’ soccer team, and he helped lead the team to the third round of the state playoffs last spring.

With his high-school days behind him, Sosa is trying to make a go of it in college, and he’s a member a Keiser University (Fla.) team that has been ranked near the top of the NAIA national standings all season.

Sosa has spent the fall season on the developmental team, which gives players who don’t get playing time on the varsity level an opportunity to acclimate to the college game.

At Keiser, Sosa is surrounded by players who were at the top of the ladder on their high-school rosters, and he knows there are no shortcuts to success.

“The work has just begun,” Sosa said when he signed. “I know the next level’s going to be even harder.”

Fully aware of how difficult it’ll be to find a place on the field, Sosa accepted the offer to join Keiser’s program without reservation.

“I’m excited,” Sosa said. “I know going into there, it’s a really great program. It I can help them, if I can play, that’s great.”

Sosa became a member of the LaGrange High soccer family as a freshman, and after playing sparingly on the varsity squad his first two years, he was a starter his final two seasons, and he was a team captain as a senior.

“Toni was on the varsity as a freshman, and didn’t play a lot,” said LaGrange head coach Shane Pulliam. “The next year he didn’t play a lot, and then he started, and this year he was a captain. The difference between Toni as a junior and Toni as a senior is night and day. That’s why he’s (signing). Something in him flipped a switch, and he decided that I’m going to be better. He started running on his own, training on his own, and he came out and became a leader on our team, was a captain on our team.”

Sosa, Pulliam added, “got better every year because he chose to be better, and chose to be a leader.”

Pulliam’s respect for Sosa only grew after LaGrange fell to East Hall in the state tournament last spring.

“We lost, we’re in the locker room. I give the seniors a chance to go around and talk,” Pulliam recalls. “(Sosa) said, every player on this team matters. Whether you are a starter or not, everybody matters. I wouldn’t be where I was, doing what I do, if it wasn’t for you guys. All of you guys helped make me a better as a player. That is exactly the kind of leadership I expressed to the Keiser coach.”

Photo: Kevin Eckleberry

I know the next level’s going to be even harder.”

LHS SOFTBALL PLAYERS IN COLLEGE

By Kevin Eckleberry

Photo: Kevin Eckleberry

When the 2017 season got underway, there were five freshman starters on the field for the LaGrange High softball team.

Those players never left the lineup during their four seasons in the program, and they were soon joined by another member of that 2017 freshman class who became a starter as well.

When the 2020 season ended with a loss in the semifinals of the state playoffs, it was time for those six players, who’d spent so much time together and enjoyed a remarkable run of success, to say goodbye to high-school softball.

While their time in high school is done, they’re far from finished with a game that has brought them so much joy.

Four of the seniors from the 2020 team are now playing college football, and they are preparing for their freshman seasons that will begin in February.

Among those players are pitcher Camden Smith (University of West Georgia), shortstop Abby Vanhoose (LaGrange College), second baseman Madison Dennis (Georgia Highlands College) and Malone Aldridge (Georgia Highlands College).

Two other successful members of the class of 2021, Jacee Marable and Kirsten Williams, aren’t playing college softball.

Gabby Heath, who coached those six players throughout their high-school careers, was grateful to have the luxury of penciling them into the lineup every day for four years.

“When I was thinking about what to say about them, consistency is the word that came to my head, because if you look at their stats, their averages, statistically what they’ve done, they’re always there,” Heath said. “They’re consistent in every aspect of their loves, too.”

Camden Smith was LaGrange’s top pitcher for four seasons, and by the time she left she was one of the best players at her position in the state.

Smith had plenty of options when it came time to choose a college home, and she went with West Georgia in Carrollton.

“I walked in, and I loved it, every bit of it,” Smith said. “Coach Al (Thomas) is great. It’s a blast to be there with him and all the girls. It’s exciting.”

For each of Smith’s four seasons at LaGrange, she had Vanhoose and Dennis playing behind her. Vanhoose is staying at home to attend LaGrange College, and playing college softball is the fulfillment of a long-time goal.

“I’ve been working for this since I was little,” she said. “I always wanted to do this. It’ll be exciting.”

Dennis and Aldridge, meanwhile, will head north to join the Georgia Highlands College program.

Dennis was happy to be able to share her signing day with her friends and former teammates.

“It means a lot being able to sign on the same day, knowing you worked hard together, and you get to celebrate together,” Dennis said.

Aldridge, an athletic outfielder known for making acrobatic catches, has joined forces with Dennis at Georgia Highlands.

“I had a few offers, but Georgia Highlands felt right,” Aldridge said. “Madison, a teammate of mind, she’s also going there, so it felt like it would be nice to go together, and I like the idea of it just being two years, and after I can go somewhere bigger, if I want to do that, or just go to college to be a student.”

Aldridge and her former teammates at LaGrange left behind a winning legacy.

In 2019, LaGrange finished second in the region tournament and reached the second round of the state playoffs.

In 2020, LaGrange won a region championship and made it to the final four of the state playoffs in Columbus before falling short.

I’ve been working for this since I was little.”