How a Hancock High pitcher became the Mississippi Coast’s youngest softball star
It’s been a whirlwind summer for Teegan DeWitt.
Trips from Colorado to Atlanta and seemingly everywhere in between dot the Hancock softball star’s schedule. DeWitt’s mother, Tosha, has traveled with her to each tournament to get her daughter in front on high-level coaching and on the field against stronger competition in different environments.
Neither expected to be in this position a year ago and around the time Teegan was anxiously preparing for her first season of high school softball.
Then she struck out 196 batters as a freshman and quickly cemented herself as one of South Mississippi’s most dominant pitchers.
“I didn’t expect to play near as much as I did,” Teegan told the Sun Herald. “I thought I was just going to be a (junior varsity) pitcher. I thought I would get maybe a couple games on varsity, but not as much as I did.”
She made her season debut against Pearl River Central and immediately claimed her spot in the circle for the Hawks.
Teegan faced nine batters in three innings and cut down eight of them via strikeout in a 7-1 victory for Hancock.
She would have her first double-digit strikeout game two days later when she sent 10 of the 13 D’Iberville Warrior batters she faced back to the dugout with Ks.
In her 22 pitching appearances last season, she had 10 or more strikeouts on nine occasions. She would finish the year with a floor-chasing 1.07 ERA.
The talent Teegan faced was a step up from middle school, but the pressure was no different. Her final game of middle school softball was an extra-inning loss to a loaded George County team in the playoffs. Many of those same Rebels helped carry GCHS into the 2022 South State championship series in May.
It was her performance at the end of her eighth grade season that instilled her with the confidence she needed when she moved to the high school stage.
The competitiveness she carries comes from a different source, though. She has three brothers and they are all athletes.
“It’s makes me more competitive,” Teegan said. “I always try to beat my brothers at anything.”
The constant competitive environment Teegan has grown up in and the high leverage situations pitched within in middle school created the scorching 2022 debut season she had.
“It’s just her mental toughness,” Hancock catcher and longtime friend Taylor Dunbar said. “Of all the pitchers I’ve ever caught, I’ve never met anyone so mentally tough as Teegan. Instead of thinking, she just pitches... She can be in any environment on any team and she still does good.”
Mental drive and fire from the circle has led her to a busy first high school summer. Teegan has traveled across the country and back showcasing her powerful fastball and the wicked changeup she compliments it with.
“Florida was not on our schedule, the Colorado trip was not originally on the schedule,” Tosha said. “The Atlanta trip was not on the schedule. The trip she’s about to go on now, she did so well she’s been given the opportunity to play on a national team.”
For now, Teegan and Tosha are taking advantage of every chance the young flamethrower is given to improve her game.
If the Coast was put on watch with her freshman campaign, Teegan is now out to put everyone on warning.
