Former Miss Softball, Huntsville native joining softball staff at UAH

A former Miss Softball winner will be joining UAH’s softball staff.

Huntsville native and former Westminster Christian star Annie Willis will be joining the Chargers’ staff as an assistant coach, it was announced on Thursday.

She will join the staff of new head coach Melanie Carter, who was promoted from assistant coach following the retirement of hall-of-fame coach Les Stuedeman.

Willis starred at Westminster Christian in high school, being honored as the Alabama Sports Writers Association’s Miss Softball in 2017.

She was also on the Wildcats’ coaching staff before being announced as UAH’s next assistant coach.

With the Class 4A runner-up Wildcats as a senior, she went 43-3-1 in the circle with a 0.40 ERA and 543 strikeouts with 23 shutouts, five no-hitters and three perfect games.

Willis also batted .464 with 12 home runs and 64 RBIs at the plate for Westminster Christian, also being named AL.com’s Huntsville Region Softball Player of the Year in 2017.

She still ranks fourth in AHSAA history in both career strikeouts (1,975) and shutouts (84), fifth in career wins (160) and sixth in career innings pitched (1,227 1/3).

The Miss Softball winner went on to sign with Troy out of high school, where she was named the 2018 Sun Belt Freshman of the Year.

She transferred to Mississippi State after two seasons with the Trojans and finished with a 2.35 ERA and a 35-19 record for the Bulldogs, where she finished sixth in program history for strikeouts.

Her single-game record of 19 strikeouts in a game against Mississippi Valley State in 2020 still stands. In her final season with the Bulldogs, she guided the program to its first Super Regional appearance.

Following her collegiate career, she was drafted in the 2022 Women’s Professional Fastpitch Draft by the Smash It Sports Vipers, which were based out of Oxford.

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