05.07.10
By C. Jemal Horton
South Charlotte Weekly
By the time she reached Charlotte Latin’s middle school, Garland Austin already was known as a really good softball pitcher. She’d begun playing the game as an 8-year-old, and her steely dominance on the mound quickly made waves on the summertime showcase circuit.
But as seventh grade approached in 2006, the thought of playing softball actually made Austin a bit nervous.
“I was really worried that we might not have a good catcher for our middle-school team,” Austin recalled. “That’s so important for a pitcher.”
Then she heard about this girl named Katharina Miles who transferred to Latin as a sixth-grader. Miles was tall, athletic and funny. More important, she was a catcher – such a good catcher, in fact, that she’d made Little League baseball all-star teams dominated by boys.
“A lot of the guys at school even talked about how good of a catcher she was,” Austin said. “And once I saw her play, I knew it was true.
That was really comforting going into middle-school softball.”
Austin had found her catcher.
And Charlotte Latin had found a pitcher-catcher combination that eventually would move up to the varsity squad and instantly become one of the county’s best.
Austin and Miles have been critical to the school’s softball emergence. In 2008, the year before Austin and Miles joined the varsity, Charlotte Latin won three games; last season, with Austin throwing two no-hitters and Miles calling every pitch in every game, the Hawks had 18 victories and went deep into N.C. Independent Schools Athletic Association 3A playoffs.
When the NCISAA playoffs begin Tuesday, May 11, the Hawks will be among the few teams – mainly Providence Day and Concord Cannon – with a shot at dethroning four-time defending state champion Hickory Grove. The quarterfinals, semifinals and finals will be held Friday and Saturday, March 14-15, on Charlotte Latin’s home field.
For the Hawks to claim the title, however, Austin and Miles will have to perform at an even higher level then the lofty standard they’ve established over the years.
Not that it would be hard for them to do it.
“They just work so well together that they bring the best out of each other, and that’s really helped our team, as a whole,” Latin coach Eric Smith said. “They’ve been playing together for so long now, and they’re friends off the field. Katharina is very laid-back, and Garland is more serious. But I think they kind of play off each other. It works for them and our team.”
Entering the Hawks’ May 4 game at Concord Cannon, Austin had a 1.49 ERA, posting 121 strikeouts in 103 innings. Known for her accuracy, she also has a no-hitter and six shutouts, en route to a 12-4 record. Two of those losses were by scores of 1-0.
Smith said the left-handed Austin can be hard on herself at times but added that it’s a trait that also makes her so good. Besides, she’s got Miles to keep her loose at just the right times.
“Nothing ever bothers Katharina, and with her being so loose, it kind of evens things out a little bit,” Smith said.
Being the only girl on her Dilworth Little League baseball teams for so many years, Miles learned to let things slide off her. When the boys would make wisecracks, she’d respond with a key defensive stop behind the plate or getting a clutch hit; she hammered two home runs playing in the 12-and-under league.
Now, as a 6-foot sophomore softball player, she hasn’t let up. This season, she’s batting .511 with 13 RBIs. She’s also thrown out nine runners attempting to steal bases.
Many people in the softball community assume the talented Miles is an upperclassmen. For instance, between innings of a recent Latin game, an umpire walked up to Smith and asked him which colleges were pursuing Miles the most.
“She’s just a sophomore,” the coach said.
“Well, get ready, because they’re going to start calling soon,” the umpire said, shaking is head.
One of the most impressive things about Miles is the fact that she calls the pitches for Austin – something extremely rare for softball and baseball players at the high school level. It started when the pair were middle school teammates, and Smith allowed the practice to continue when they reached high school.
“In eighth grade, Garland e-mailed me this sheet that had all these different types of pitches on them and when to throw them, and I kind of looked over that briefly,” Miles said. “And over the years, you develop a certain amount of experience that shows you, ‘She’s swinging over the ball, so throw this type of pitch.’ But you always want to surprise the batters.”
When they first became a battery, Austin mainly had two pitches: a fastball and a changeup.
“That really worked well,” Miles said, “because 90 percent of the girls at that level couldn’t catch up to her pitches – they couldn’t touch them. Then she added a screwball, a curve ball and a drop ball. She likes some (pitches) better than others, so I kind of base my calls off which ones she likes throwing.
“Between every inning, in the dugout, she’ll tell me, ‘Oh, that was good’ or ‘What pitch do you think we should give her next time?’ Or if they get a hit, we’ll talk to Coach about it and change up some of the things we do.
“Throughout the years, Garland and I have begun to understand each other a lot more,” Miles continued. “We’ve gotten to the point where we make the exact same call. We just kind of read each other’s mind, and that’s kind of fun.”
And how fun is it when Austin shakes off Miles’ calls?
“Well, that doesn’t happen too often,” Austin said after a long laugh. “I trust her decision-making. Usually, the only time I shake her off is when I don’t really feel comfortable throwing that pitch. It’s about working together.
“Our chemistry does transfer to the team. But as a pitcher, I always have in my mind, ‘It’s OK if they get a hit, because I know the whole team will be there to pick us up.’ Our team gets along really well. At practice, it’s so much fun. I think because we all appreciate each other and have confidence in each other, we’ve been able to produce a lot of wins this year.”
Senior infielder Katie Sheild is the Hawks’ cleanup hitter and has 12 RBIs on the season. Junior leadoff hitter Morgan Henry, a college prospect in her own right, is batting .385. And senior second baseman Megan Harley also plays a key role for the squad.
The combination of Austin and Miles, coupled with the strong contributions of other Hawks, has Charlotte Latin fans excited about the upcoming state tournament.
“Last year, we kind of took everybody by surprise,” Austin said. “Since then, our team has been set on winning states. We’re all really looking forward to (the tournament). We had a few rusty games at the beginning of the season, but we’re starting to play better. We’re all really excited about things starting to turn around.”
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