Sports competition comprises organized chaos in a frenzied atmosphere.

Opposing players, fans and situations combine to apply pressure on even the most elite athlete.

Fairhope’s Ryley Harrison proves the exception, the softball field her refuge of calmness in a storm of bedlam.

“It lets me escape everything that’s going on,” said Harrison, who was today named Miss Softball. “I know I can go out there, win or lose, make seven errors or whatever, and it doesn’t define who I am. I don’t feel any pressure on the field.”

Harrison picked up the Miss Softball award during Sunday’s Alabama Sports Writers Association banquet in Jacksonville. She’s the first Fairhope player to earn the honor.

RELATED: See the ASWA All-State softball team

Oxford’s Hayes Harrison was named Mr. Baseball and ASWA also honored Deshler’s Alex Haddock-Thomas with the Jimmy Smothers Courage Award.

Harrison earned Miss Softball and Class 7A Player of the Year after posting impressive senior statistics for the Pirates.

She compiled a 26-1 pitching record with an 0.74 ERA, 275 strikeouts (12 per seven innings), 17 shutouts, three no-hitters and three perfect games. At the plate, she batted .474 with 20 home runs, 76 RBIs, a .572 on-base percentage and 1.580 OPS.

“This year she knew if we were going to be successful, she would have to be a huge part,” said Fairhope coach Trevor Powell. “She killed herself in the weight room and took that leadership role of being that No. 1, that dog. The numbers speak for themselves. She was dominant in the circle all year, at the plate, a dangerous force.

“She’s a great teammate, great leader in the dugout and off the field, a great example for our younger kids.”

Harrison helped the Pirates to the Class 7A title game this season before falling to Hewitt-Trussville. Fairhope also won to the championship in 2021 — no softball championships in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic — and finished fourth in 2022.

Hewitt-Trussville has been a nemesis throughout, beating Fairhope for the title this season by winning two straight after the Pirates put the Huskies in the elimination bracket. Hewitt-Trussville also won the 2021 title after Fairhope came out the elimination bracket and forced the “if necessary” game.

Pitching the 1-0 win over the Huskies in this season’s winners bracket final proved a highlight for Harrison. She struck out 16 after pitching wins over defending champion Thompson (2-1 win with eight strikeouts) and Sparkman (4-1 win with 16 strikeouts).

“It was my third game of the day pitching and I really wanted to win that game,” Harrison said. “I told coach (Powell) I wanted the ball. To me, I think Hewitt is the best team in the state besides us. Sara (Phillips) is a great pitcher and all their lineup can hit. I was tired and just running off adrenaline.”

Harrison also felt a different emotion in the seventh inning of the game with runners on first and second and a precarious one-run lead. She felt pressure.

“I don’t really get pressured in situations like that, but for the first time, I actually felt pressure,” Harrison said. “I wanted to beat them so bad. Their student section was getting rowdy and there were a whole bunch of factors in it.”

Harrison struck out the final batter to end the game and preserve the victory.

“I looked at coach Powell and my catcher (Emma Stewart) and put my glove over my face and started crying,” Harrison said. “We had never been in the winners bracket to go to the championship.”

South Alabama signee Harrison is the 20th Miss Softball and only Grissom’s Anna Thompson has earned the honor twice, 2004 and 2006. Pisgah, Hueytown and Baker are the lone schools with multiple winners in the history of the award.

Harrison leads the Super All-State softball team along with Class 7A Hewitt-Trussville’s Hannah Dorsett and Tuscaloosa County’s Alyssa Faircloth, Class 6A Wetumpka’s Mya Holt and Athens’ Morgan Stiles, Class 5A Brewbaker Tech’s Taniyah Brown, Class 4A Curry’s Ambrey Taylor, Class 3A Plainview’s Mia Tidmore, Class 2A Hatton’s Bradyn Mitchell and Class 1A Brantley’s Kaylee Navarre.

Faircloth is the only repeat winner, earning Super All-State last season at Holy Spirit.

The Jimmy Smothers Courage Award, named for the former long-time Gadsden Times sports editor, honors an athlete who overcomes adversity to excel in sports.

Deshler’s Haddock-Thomas is a junior baseball player with a rare heart condition that required open-heart surgery when he was five days old.

He races ATVs and dirt bikes and a November accident was catastrophic. Haddock-Thomas was almost killed, breaking two vertebrae in his lower back and needing seven staples in his head, but recovered from the wreck and missed none of Deshler’s baseball season.

Teammates report that Haddock-Thomas always keeps the mood light and there’s never a dull moment when he’s around.

2023 ASWA Super All-State Softball

Miss Softball: Ryley Harrison, Fairhope

Taniyah Brown, Brewbaker Tech

Mya Holt, Wetumpka

Mia Tidmore, Plainview

Ambrey Taylor, Curry

Alyssa Faircloth, Tuscaloosa County

Hannah Dorsett, Hewitt Trussville

Morgan Stiles, Athens

Bradyn Mitchell, Hatton

Kaylee Navarre, Brantley

ASWA Miss Softball Winners

2023: Ryley Harrison, Fairhope

2022: Kenleigh Cahalan, Hewitt-Trussville

2021: Annabelle Widra, Spain Park

2020: No award because of COVID-19 Pandemic

2019: Libby Baker, G.W. Long

2018: Leanna Johnson, Brantley

2017: Annie Willis, Westminster Christian

2016: Ashlee Swindle, Curry

2015: Lacey Sumerlin, Baker

2014: Madi Moore, Winfield

2013: Kasey Cooper, Dothan

2012: Haylie McCleney, Mortimer Jordan

2011: Shelby Holley, Pisgah

2010: Leigh Streetman, Hueytown

2009: Hilary Phillips, Ider

2008: Lindsey Dunlap, Hueytown

2007: Whitney Larsen, Vestavia Hills

2006: Anna Thompson, Grissom

2005: Tara Donaldson, Baker

2004: Anna Thompson, Grissom

2003: Holly Currie, Pisgah