Itawamba’s Owens continues to dominate in circle
After winning a state title and Miss Softball last year, Itawamba AHS pitcher Layla Owens has found a way to be even better this season. Owens is 13-1 in the circle on the season with a 0. 38 ERA and 131 strikeouts in 73 innings of work.
The senior has given up just four earned runs all year. In her last outing on Tuesday against Houston, Owens shut out the Hilltoppers and fanned 12. “She’s continued to make jumps every year,” Itawamba head coach Jeffrey Mann said.
“She’s been doing this since ninth grade, but she’s just gotten better every year. And every year, just working harder to finesse her game, add another pitch, add a mile per hour or two out of the weight room, just getting stronger and mentally, physically learning how to pitch. She can throw it definitely, but now she’s pitching it behind throwing it.
” Mann praised Owens’ work ethic and competitive drive when she could’ve simply been content with how last season went. “She comes to me all the time before we play games and says, 'Hey, here’s who we’re playing, here’s who they got, here’s how I’m going to attack them,'” Mann said. “;I believe I can get this girl out with this pitch, this pitch.
' "That’s special at a high school level. Most of the kids don’t do that or may not even know who we’re playing the day they wake up. She studies them that night and what she did before in the past.