You might find this hard to believe.
Since you know by now all the things she accomplished with a certain razzmatazz during basketball season – a 45-point performance against West Ridge, a 36-point outburst against Greeneville in the regional tournament – the highlight-reel shots from long range, the pinpoint passes, the dandy dribbles, and strong-willed steals. The final numbers on her ledger: 19.5 points, 3.4 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.9 steals per game.
OK, so here is the wild part and a statement that will probably be debated over the course of the next four years.
Tennessee High freshman Addie Wilhoit might be an even better softball player than she is a hoopster.
No lie.
Look at these stats through the Vikings’ first 10 games of 2024, which also happen to be the first 10 games of Wilhoit’s high school softball career: .643 batting average, six home runs, 19 RBIs.
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That’s just sublime.
Prodigy. Phenom. Wunderkind. Virtuoso.
Those words are often used by sports scribes, but in this instance it’s no case of hyperbole.
Believe it.
“Addie is an elite athlete,” said teammate Macie Strouth. “Softball, basketball, tidily-winks. Doesn’t matter.”
Wilhoit connected for two home runs in a season-opening win over John Battle and the hits have just kept coming.
“Addie is 100 percent one of the best hitters in our lineup and with our lineup that is a massive accomplishment,” said Tennessee High pitcher Carly Compton. “Addie is a high-level hitter with a high-level swing and a high-level mindset at the plate. What impresses me the most about Addie is how she challenges pitchers. She knows the strike zone very, very well and is disciplined. She makes pitchers really think and work for it. She has a really good eye at the plate and will make a pitcher pay when she misses her spot and makes her pay even when she hits her spot. She can hit a ball in any quadrant in the zone and hit it hard. … I couldn’t be more blessed to wear the same jersey as her.”
Wilhoit’s also gone yard against Lebanon, Elizabethton, Unicoi County and Science Hill.
“The one I can remember the most is our game against Elizabethton when she hit one out,” said teammate Katy Granger. “They are a huge conference [rival] for us and her hitting one out set the tone for our game. We wanted to make a statement that game and she helped us prove to them what kind of team we are.”
In Saturday’s 2-1 loss to Science Hill, Wilhoit produced Tennessee High’s lone run with one swing.
“The fences were about 220 [feet] at least and as soon as she made contact after a long and hard at-bat, that ball left in a hurry and on a string,” Compton said. “With wind blowing in and [the temperature] being in the 20s and her still clearing the fence with a line drive was very, very impressive. It showed her power and discipline once again and she did it in a very pressure situation.”
Which of Wilhoit’s bombs stood out the most to Strouth?
“Can’t pick a favorite home run yet,” Strouth said. “They were all clutch and many more to come.”
In this past weekend’s East Tennessee Classic in Johnson City, she went 10-for-13 with five doubles and two longballs.
Oh yeah, the nifty ninth-grader also happens to be a sure-handed shortstop.
Wilhoit has been playing basketball and softball in travel-ball leagues since she was 6-years-old and spends her summers playing for national-level travel teams in both sports.
She works with a shooting coach – former Sullivan East High School player and coach Mark Mason – and has taken hitting lessons from Adam Cross, a former player in the Atlanta Braves and San Diego Padres minor league systems and the father of Kansas City Royals prospect Gavin Cross.
Her bloodlines are impressive.
Her mom, Angie, was a star athlete at Sullivan East High School and one of the best basketball players to ever wear an East Tennessee State University uniform.
Her dad, Andy, was quite the athlete at Sullivan East as well and competed in baseball at King University.
So, what does Addie Wilhoit like the best about playing softball?
“I love softball because there’s not as much running,” she said with a laugh. “And truly I just love to hit.”
She also loves to win and Tennessee High has been doing plenty of that in starting the season with an 8-2 mark.
University of North Carolina commit Carly Compton has been the ace pitcher after transferring from Tazewell.
“I think that we have gotten off to a great start and the addition of Carly has taken us to a different level,” Wilhoit said. “Every player on the team has had a positive mindset and we are excited to see where we finish this season.”
Strouth, Granger, Abby Haga, Kaylie Hughes, Maddi Hall, Lily Ware, Maddi Ratliff, Mazzy Wilson, Addison Glover and Delaney Linkous have also had their time to shine at various points this season.
“Like last year’s team, this team has a tendency to produce different heroes for different games and different situations,” Strouth said. “And nobody cares who gets the credit.”
The Vikings play two games on Thursday and two more on Friday in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
Wilhoit will look to wallop some more pitches against out-of-state opponents.
How does she do it?
“Keeping a positive mindset at the plate and trusting the reps I put in during preseason,” Wilhoit said. “I like to just keep my swing simple.”