
How do you like to celebrate your own birthday?
Last week, Extra Inning Softball hit its 3-year birthday and what we like to do–time permitting–is go through the 3,ooo stories we’ve published so far and remember the people and events that make covering fastpitch so rewarding.
One of my favorite stories, certainly one of the most poignant and powerful ones we did in our first year (2018), was the one below which covers the full range of emotions. It’s about a wonderful young athlete and how much softball meant to her. It’s about those who were inspired by her and did amazing things.
It’s also about each of us taking the time to enjoy the journey of life and appreciating what we have.
Since this story was first written, the Anna Leigh Wells Memorial Scholarship was created and has been issued by her high school. So far, there have been four recipients: 2017, Kip Wilson; 2018, Sydney Hope; 2019, Carolina Lamm, and 2020, Mack Nease.
If people want to make a donation to the fund, the best way to get info for that is call the school itself directs at 912-562-4405.
I hope this inspires you as much as it did me back then… and still today.
— Brentt Eads, Extra Inning Softball
*****
From Tragedy to Triumph: the Story Behind Anna’s 9-Cleat Mizunos
Originally published Feb. 13, 2018
It’s high school softball season across the country or it is rapidly approaching.
Today, Extra Inning Softball presents an article submission whose author requested anonymity, so the attention would go where she intended… to Anna.
All of us at Extra Inning hopes this story of tragedy and triumph hits you like it hit us—in all the feels.
Remember Anna the next time you watch your kid lace up her Mizunos or the next time you as a player take the field. Today—and every day—play for her, and never, ever take time or the game for granted.
*****
I know this is a bit long, but I encourage you to read until the end. You won’t regret it, and you surely don’t want to miss any of the details that follow.
To the naked eye, these dirty, worn out, 9-spike Mizuno cleats are just that: dirty, worn out cleats with nine spikes.
On the contrary, they are so much more.
Anna Leigh Wells, a rising senior at David Emanuel Academy in Stillmore, Georgia, laced these bad boys up before every game with her travel club and high school team.
She loved the game of fastpitch almost as much as she loved life itself, and I got to experience her passion for both firsthand when I coached her for a full season during her freshman year of high school.
In the words of her high school head coach, Allen Jordan, she was an average player who worked really hard to be a good player. When it was time for new cleats, she came to practice sporting a shiny pair of white Mizunos.
Boy, you’d think Christmas came in July that year! I don’t think she missed a game in those cleats, and surely if Heaven has a softball team, she’s found a pair of white Mizunos there, too.
You see, our beloved Anna departed this life on August 13, 2016.
She dedicated many years to the game of fastpitch, and while I can’t promise that she played in Mizunos every game of her career, I can assure you that she endorsed Mizuno as well as any big-named celebrity softballer today… and I hope that if you read on, you’ll see what I mean.
[I’ll try to keep this brief, but I can’t promise that, either. I’m a journalist by trade; I’m thorough and I try to invoke as much emotion as possible. I tend to get lengthy, but I hope you’ll understand that in order for me to do my job, you absolutely must not miss anything. Please, bear with me!]
Just before the start of her senior year, Anna was traveling eastbound on Highway 24 in Burke County, Georgia, when tragedy struck.
On the night of Saturday, Aug. 13, 2016, the 17-year-old missed her turn and performed a legal U-turn in her Jeep Wrangler. A driver operating a pick-up truck struck Anna’s vehicle on the driver door, killing her instantly.
The sudden loss was devastating, rocking the worlds of her family, friends, teachers, classmates, coaches, acquaintances, and even complete strangers. Of course, it didn’t take long for our small community to band together to support both one another and Anna’s family.
Two vigils were held to celebrate her life.
The first was organized the very next day following her passing by her teammates and students from nearby schools filled the bleachers and the area surrounding the dugout at Anna’s home field to honor her life.
The second vigil was held Monday evening, her visitation that Wednesday, and finally her funeral service on Thursday.
Still, the hardest part had yet to come—her fellow students had to endure an entire school year ahead without their fiery redhead walking the halls, and her teammates had to find a way to play the game she loved so much without her.
To make the season look even more intimidating, the Lady Eagles of DEA were scheduled to play in a new conference.
Under normal circumstances, the pressure to perform would be immense. Add in Anna’s death and this team was sure to fail.
She was to be a key player on this year’s squad. She had proven herself to be a leader on the field that could take control of a game. She meant so much to her team through summer workouts.
Where would they stand without her senior leadership and sparkplug energy?
I’ll tell you where they stood… They didn’t stand at all. They dogpiled on the pitcher’s mound on October 17, 2016, after a best-of-three series.
For the first time in school history, David Emanuel Academy won a fastpitch state championship, defying the odds along the way and performing exactly the way their late second baseman would’ve expected.
The team of 13 “played for Anna” all season long. They didn’t merely win, either; they dominated pretty much from beginning to end. The Lady Eagles finished 20-5, outscoring their opponents 212-72.
Of those 20 wins, at least nine of them came by run-rule. They only suffered one loss during the regular season from a conference foe. The other four losses came from teams in their old conference they had beaten in the past.

So how does all this tie into Anna’s Mizunos? I’m getting there.
Prior to every game, the Lady Eagles placed her dirty, worn out, 9-spike cleats on second base, gathered in a circle with arms interwoven, and prayed. They prayed for strength, guidance, courage, and only God knows what else.
After every win, they’d move those same Mizunos to home plate, stand together in two rows, arms interwoven once again, and document the win for her with a photograph as if to say, “We got you, girl.“
Isn’t that what our game is all about?
There’s no ‘I’ in team, but there is an ‘A,’ and I know without a doubt that those outstanding athletes from David Emanuel Academy kept that letter in mind every time they set foot on the diamond.
Oh, how I wish I could accurately describe how much fire Anna had in her when she played!
For the first time in my life, words are failing me, and it’s not fair to her. She was destined for great things during what would’ve been her season.
In fact, when the 2015 softball team fell short in the Final 4, she posted on Facebook saying she had one more year to earn a state title.
We hear it all the time… Great players coming back when it seems nearly impossible: Paige Lowary’s line drive to the face in the Mary Nutter Classic in February 2016; Katie Cotta’s comeback signing to the Scrap Yard Dawgs after having left the game years ago; Isabella Picard’s medical defiance and the #bringbacktherightside movement.
I can’t imagine how difficult any of those situations must have been, but it seems like they all have something in common with Anna and the girls she left behind in Stillmore. Those players get it. They get that there is something bigger at stake than themselves—the team.
Anna wasn’t alive to celebrate that state championship moment, but she celebrated it nonetheless. I know she did. I can just feel it in my bones.
I can see her now, dancing her favorite jig, the Cotton-Eyed Joe, when that last out was made. I like to think that the Anna everyone knew, loved, and respected on the field instilled in her teammates exactly what it means to play this game.
You have to respect the game. It can be taken from you in a moment’s notice. Life is but a vapor, this we know… But I believe, just like any other athlete should believe, that the game you love can be swept from under your feet without warning.
Anna said it best when she said, “This is my place. This is my comfort zone. Playing this game brings me peace. I have been so blessed to play softball.”
Indeed, that is precisely how we athletes should feel when we suit up. We’re not lucky. We’re not entitled to sports. When the game is on the line, it’s easy to think, “Man, I deserved that hit!”
No, it’s not that simple!
One day, our time to shine will be over. We can’t avoid the end of our tenure in sports. It’s coming one day. It’s coming quick, fast, and in a hurry, so don’t miss your opportunity to embrace it.
Don’t miss your opportunity to relish the sweat on your brow and the stains on your jersey and the long bus rides and the annoying teammate and the 38 foul poles you have to run and the cheap McDonald’s meals you have to eat on the road and the chewings you get when you’ve done something stupid and the way it feels to round third when you’ve homered to put away the game in the bottom of the seventh.
Don’t you dare take for granted what our Anna (and so many other late athletes) missed out on. Just one more game, I know that’s what she’d ask for if given one wish.
Whether you strap on your football pads and look up at those lights so high above you, whether you crouch down on the starting blocks anxious for the gun to sound, whether you slide on a Mizuno sweatband and hit the court, or whether you lace up your Mizuno cleats like Anna did and hit the brick dust running wide open, we all should feel something when we get up on game day.
We are so blessed to be given the games we love, and if we stop giving it all we’ve got, even for a second, that could be it. There may not be another at-bat, another inning, another game, another season, another win, another loss.
There might not be a tomorrow!
Humble yourselves. Humble your teammates. Humble those who watch you. Play with fervor. Play with passion. Play with fire. I beg you. I dare you!
While you still have the chance, play for something bigger than yourself, and when you do that, the outcome will be better than your wildest dreams. And if you’re lucky, you’ll have a pair of Mizunos to remind you all the way to the end.
Once again, thank you so much for spending your time reading about Anna and the 2016 GICAA state champions. Please share…
Anna Leigh Wells: 4/6/99 – 8/13/16
“I thank my God upon every remembrance of you.” – Phil. 1:3