Matt Vines
Logansport pitcher Avery Creech watched beside her teammates as Oak Grove erased a one-run lead and heaped on the runs to end the Lady Tigers’ 2023 season in the quarterfinals.
Creech dislocated her patella in her knee in the third game of the season and was relegated to a support role as she missed the rest of her junior season.
But with another chance at Sulphur on the line, it was Creech who had the ball in her hands instead of watching from the dugout.
Creech led No. 1 seed Logansport to a 12-2 against Vinton, surrendering just two hits and striking out 10 batters to send the Lady Tigers to Sulphur and the state semifinals.
Logansport will face No. 5 seed French Settlement today at noon in Sulphur in the Division IV semis.
“It means the world to me,” Creech said in a video interview. “When I got hurt last year, my role was to be a good teammate, you’re here for your teammates, you’re cheering them on.
“Now it means the world to me to be here with my teammates who supported me and to know that we have a good shot at Sulphur.”
Creech has been masterful in the circle, compiling a 16-3 record with a 2.9 ERA, allowing just two runs total Logansport’s two playoff wins.
Coach and father Kyle Creech said he’s seen a renewed energy from his daughter and ace pitcher.
“The work ethic I’ve seen from her and the tremendous amount of focus she’s had is remarkable,” Kyle Creech said of Avery, who broke the program’s record for strikeouts this month and now has more than 400. “When she got hurt last year, that kind of reignited her passion for softball.
“Being relegated to the sidelines is tough. It was this time last year that she was finally able to do some drills and spins, and she understood how important it was to rehab as good as she has.”
The lengthy rehab occurred because Creech tore her medial patellofemoral ligament, the one that holds the patella in place. Surgery repaired the tendon, and it was up to Creech to regain her strength.
“She’s picked up right where she left off,” Kyle Creech said. “She was poised to have a tremendous year in the preseason, and she’s got back to where she was from a velocity standpoint.
“To do what she’s done against the quality of opponents we’ve faced, I’m happy with how she’s performed.”
While the senior has pitched the lion’s share of innings (almost 70 percent), the experience other pitchers like Ainsley Morvan and Kennedi Smith gained in Creech’s absence will be key in Logansport’s bid for a state championship this weekend.
“That’s extremely important because as good as Avery has been, when you 24 games, it’s far from a one-man show,” said Kyle Creech, who added that the offense has clubbed 44 home runs this season. “If Avery hits a wall or the opponent gets on her, we have arms that have experience in key situations.
“Avery has handled it well when opponents do starting hitting her, but there are times when you have to go somewhere else. And we have options that we can lean on.”
If Logansport beats French Settlement on Friday, there’s a good chance that the Lady Tigers will see district foe and No. 3 seed Montgomery in the championship game Saturday at noon.
Montgomery won the regular season meeting in comeback fashion, scoring four runs in the final two innings of a 5-4 win.
Whatever the weekend holds, Kyle Creech said it’s been a joy to coach his daughter and to see how his assistant coaches help balance the father-coach relationship.
“The dad-daughter dynamic can be frustrating at times, but I’m extremely grateful that I’ve been in this position.” Kyle Creech said. “I’ve always been blessed with really good assistants, and for the longest time Avery had Elizabeth Delafield and now it’s Bailey Culbern and Jennifer Wheeless.
“It’s a tough position for a dad as a coach because I push her really, really hard. You get to that breaking point, and you lean on those assistants to take away the Dad part. I let them coach her a lot, and it does get hard on her, hard to separate at times. But I’ve enjoyed every minute of coaching all of these seniors because these girls have been with me for a long time.”
The weekend won’t be Avery Creech’s last in the circle as she’s signed to pitch for National Park College, a community college in Hot Springs, Arkansas.