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We continue our list of the Top 15 Softball Stories of 2018, which will run through December 31st when we’ll present our No. 1 story of the year.
We’ve surveyed the softball community and talked internally as well to come up with what were the most impactful and relevant stories in 2018 pertaining to the world of fastpitch softball.
Here are the previous stories:
- #15… Alexia Carrasquillo: The Shot Heard Round the Recruiting World (Dec. 17, 2018)
- #14… Ashley Rogers Overcomes Tragedy to Become National Player of the Year
- #13… High School Senior Sydney Supple Approaching $100K To Build Hometown Field of Dreams
- #12… NFCA’s StrikeOut Cancer Initiative Provides Unity & Half Million-Plus For Research
- #11… There’s Rage in Them Cajuns…. Michael Lotief Firing at ULL Sparks Pushback from Coach & Players
- #10… Controversy at TC/USA Nationals As Championship Team Disqualified
- #9… Mike Stith Wins Club Title & Pro Championship In Same Season
- #8… Team USA Looks Unstoppable Heading Towards 2020 Olympics
- #7… The South Shall Rise Again (Is The West No Longer The Dominant Region?)
- #6… On-Campus Shootings; The Softball World Also Affected
Today is #5 and is about one young athlete whose death during the summer impacted so many who knew her and had rallied behind her battle with ovarian cancer. However, she will not be forgotten as a major tournament has been set up to honor her starting in 2019….
To provide comments, insights or thoughts, email: [email protected].
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There are some stories you cover and then there are athletes you get to know and root for.
Alex Wilcox was one I got to cover when she was both at the high school and club level and, very early on, I was impressed with her bright personality and constant smile.
But she wasn’t just a nice young teenager when I got to interview her and follow her on the field: she was an amazingly talented softball player with great skills. In fact, when I saw her playing for the Birmingham Thunderbolts organization, I ranked her as the top two-way (pitching/hitting) player in her class.
And then, at the age of 15, she was stricken with ovarian cancer.
Everyone rooted for her and she battled and battled the insidious disease. We all eagerly waited for her to return to full health and, after joining the Mississippi State softball program, Alex never gave up and we just knew she would beat this, because how could someone so full of life ever lose hers?
This is where it became personal for me and involves a regret I will always have, one I’ve never spoken about publicly before.
I spoke with Rocky Thompson, the head coach of the Bolts 18U team, early last summer at an event and inquired about Alex and her health. He kindly gave me Alex’s parents contact info and I said I’d reach out to them as soon as I could to catch up and do a story on the young athlete, if only to get everyone up to speed on hear health and to solicit good thoughts and prayers.
The next week, before I could call them, I learned that Alex had passed away. I so regret not following up sooner, mainly because I wanted to do something on Alex paying tribute to her so she could read it and know how much people loved her.
What brings me solace is knowing that she already knew that, for she was a bright light in life and, best of all, her memory will never be forgotten. To ensure that, an event was created which will begin in 2019 called the Alex Wilcox Classic. It will forever carry her name and when young players down the road ask who the tournament is named after, Alex’s story will be told.
Below are several stories I was fortunate to be part of over the last year… you’ll see in them how great of a reach Alex had even in her short, but accomplished, life of 18 years…
*****
Breaking News: Mississippi State’s Alex Wilcox Dies of Ovarian Cancer
(article originally published June 25, 2018 on Extra Inning Softball)
This is Brentt Eads of Extra Inning Softball… our hearts are heavy tonight as we learned of the passing of Alex Wilcox, a fantastic softball player who I was privileged to cover when she was with the Birmingham Thunderbolts.
She was a special player, when I did my first version of the Top 100 players in the 2017 Class, she was ranked #5 overall. Later, when I revised the list it was out that she had the ovarian cancer. She wasn’t up to her full health and I, with hope and fingers crossed that she could beat the illness, kept her in the list—at #60—praying that she could beat the cancer and return to her dynamic level of abilities.
Here’s what I wrote in October of 2016:
