By Angie Ledbetter

Marissa McDaniels, a senior slow pitch player leads by being extremely vocal on her team.

Playing all four years on the team, she started out her freshman year as a utility player but became the No 1 catcher.

“We were needing a catcher so Marissa wanted to catch,” said head coach Kim Wilson. “I think she realized we didn’t have a consistent catcher and that was a good way for her to get to play. She got better ever year.”

McDaniel said being a catcher was exciting.

“You get to see where all the plays are going and call them out. I love when I get to tag someone at home.”

As far as the attraction to slow pitch, McDaniel said it was fun, laid back and exciting.

“You don’t have pressure of hitting a fast ball. You just play and hit.”

“I love playing for Coach Wilson,” McDaniel said. “She’s an extremely good coach and fun to be around. When you’re wrong, she will tell you but she doesn’t yell at you like most coaches. She gives criticism from heart to heart where you understand her and I love that about her.”

This season was fun for McDaniel.

“We were ranked and I don’t think it’s ever been that way since I’ve been born probably,” said Marissa. “To be an underdog for so long and coming from South Panola, it felt good to be ranked.”

Wilson said, “Marissa is quite the leader. She’s a twin and both of them are very vocal. Early on that wasn’t always good for Marissa because she didn’t know when to cool it. She made a big turn around during her sophomore year. I appreciate her being vocal and seeing things on the player’s level.

“She’s one of the first ones to speak up and say coach is right and listen to what she’s saying,” Wilson continued. “As we’re walking away from the huddle, she’s repeating everything we’ve said but in another way and they listened to her also.”

McDaniel considers everybody on the team a leader.

“It doesn’t take just one to do the whole job, it takes everyone. Everyone shows leadership on the field.”

As far as McDaniel’s character, you could write a book. What you see is what you get. There is no fake involved and she’s respected by everyone.

“Marissa is also involved in a lot of things at school where she’s an all around student who has the grades, said Wilson. “She has a unique set of friends. Where most of us have a circle of friends, Marissa isn’t like that. She can talk to a brick wall and find something in common with everybody. It’s not a lot of people that can do that.”

According to Wilson, McDaniel is concerned about doing the right thing and being the right kind of person that she wants to be and what her parents expect her to be.

McDaniel is an active member of New Bethlehem Church. She plans to attend Alcorn State University and major in physical therapy.

Her future plans are to return and work in Batesville so she can give back to her school. She is the daughter of Hughye and Patara McDaniel of Batesville.