Cherryville's Self, Hicks take top All-Gazette softball honors

CHERRYVILLE - Cherryville pitcher Emily Self remembers thinking early in the softball season, ‘Are we this good, or is the competition slack?'

As it turns out, the Lady Ironmen were really good.

Cherryville nearly ran the table during the regular season, then advanced to the third round of the state playoffs before closing out a season to remember.

Self, a senior, dominated in the pitcher's circle and at the plate to earn today's honor as Gazette player of the year. Her coach, Lynn Hicks, makes it a clean sweep by being named coach of the year.

Together, they led Cherryville to a 23-2 record, including a 15-1 mark in the Southern Piedmont 1A/2A Conference.

For a while, it looked as if the Lady Ironmen might not lose. They rolled through their first 20 games before falling at West Lincoln in the next-to-last game of the regular season. Cherryville eventually lost in the third round of the 1A state playoffs to Swain County, which has eliminated the Ironmen in three of Self's four seasons.

"It was fun winning and going all the way to 20-0 but you could feel the pressure building," Hicks said. "You could feel it, but at the same time, that's what you want. You want to be able to handle that pressure."

According to Self, Hicks never placed undue pressure on her players. Instead, it was her laid-back approach that Self believes allowed Hicks to get the most out of her players.

"You're not scared to make mistakes and you're so much more relaxed, so you play better," Self said.

Hicks believes this year's team would have practiced four hours every day if she asked them. Some days, after two hours had elapsed and Hicks wrapped up the afternoon, some players wondered aloud, ‘It's time to go already?'

Hicks' style seems to work, as she's built quite a program in her 23 years as head coach at Cherryville. The Lady Ironmen have won three straight conference titles and nine in the school's 12 years of fast pitch softball. This year marked the 10th time they reached at least the third round of the state playoffs. They won the 1A state title in 2001 after placing second in the state in 2000, third in 1999 and fourth in 1998.

"They come to us from the middle school with that tradition in place of being successful," Hicks said. "You just try to take that and build on it."

Self has been a major contributor the past four seasons. She finished her career with 55 wins and 555 strikeouts, second in school history in both categories to Summer Maffett, who pitched from 1998 to 2001. Self set a school record with 10 no-hitters, including one perfect game this season.

Self's career totals are staggering: 55-16 pitching record, one save, 0.87 ERA, .414 batting average and 60 RBIs.

This season, she pitched a 23-2 record with 208 strikeouts and a 0.42 ERA in 149 innings on her way to SPC player-of-the-year honors.

"I had 100 percent confidence in my defense," Self said. "We had a heck of a fielding percentage as a team, so I wasn't worried about it."

She also got it done at the plate, batting.465 with three home runs.

Believe it or not, Self isn't certain she'll play softball collegiately next season. She plans to attend Appalachian State, where she could attempt to walk on to the team. But she believes it's more likely that she'll take the year off from softball and perhaps transfer to another school as a sophomore.

"I play ball all year long. You get two weeks off all year and you just get burned out," Self said. "I think I need a break to appreciate what I would have missed."

You can reach Phillip Gardner at 704-869-1843.