She’s the crème de la crème. That’s for sure.

With half her junior softball season remaining and her senior year yet to come, however, Matoaca righthander Kaylee Hodges has demonstrated much more than the uncommon ability to compete at a level that has earned her a raft of honors including Virginia Gatorade Player of the Year.

The University of Tennessee commit can put the ball in play with the best of them, of course, as her .600 batting average, .636 on-base percentage, and 1.150 slugging percentage so far this season attest.

She’s a pitcher par excellence, an undisputed fact borne out by her 0.00 earned run average and prodigious strikeout totals (104 in 42 innings) through the Warriors’ first seven games.

What truly sets her apart, Coach Scott Driskill says, isn’t so much her larger-than-life statistics but her innate ability to make her teammates better.

“Kaylee is a fun player to watch,” said Driskill. “Our first six batters would probably start for anybody we play. Kaylee is the glue that brings it together. When we play like we can play, we’re a very good team.”

Colonial Heights, the Warriors’ opponent Thursday night, would no doubt agree.

Though the visiting Colonials (2-6) held them in check early on, they rode Hodges’ supremely dominant pitching (as usual) and pounded out 12 hits (including five for extra bases) to claim a 10-0 victory. 

“We wanted to jump on them and keep the pressure on, but we started a little slow,” Driskill said. “Colonial Heights has a solid team. I have a heck of a lot of respect for them.

“Once we got through the batting lineup one time, kids started seeing pitches better and started hitting. 

“We made some adjustments and started putting two or three hits and runs together.”

The Warriors (6-1) went up 1-0 in the second when freshman leftfielder Tori Ankiel smacked a double down the leftfield line that scored Abby Davis, who had singled and stolen second.

They scored three more runs in the third. Hayden Longacre singled to left to score Makennah Harler, a courtesy runner for Hodges who had reached base on an error. Then, Ankiel cracked another double, this one driving in Longacre and Davis, who had singled.

“For me, it’s just going up there and swinging the bat hard and doing what I can for the team,” Ankiel said. “We had runners in scoring position. I just wanted to get them in.”

They scored another three runs in the fourth inning to go up 7-0.

Lani Wilkerson, who singled, ultimately scored on a wild pitch. Raven Crabtree stroked a single to left scoring Harler, again a courtesy runner for Hodges, who had reached again on an error. Then Savannah Wright drilled a triple to rightfield to send Crabtree home.

Driskill’s crew added two more runs in the fifth. 

Ankiel led off with a single, her third hit of the game, and raced home when Kaylee Millner followed with a triple.  Then, Wilkerson’s single scored Millner.

“I was seeing the ball well and learning from what my teammates told me about where the pitches were so I’d know what to do to hit the ball well,” Ankiel said. “I knew to expect something a little bit higher on the first pitch (so I’d) be on top of the ball and not get underneath it so I didn’t pop it up.”

The Warriors brought the game to an early conclusion with their 10^th run in the sixth. Wright tripled to right field and ultimately scored on a wild pitch.

Hodges faced 21 Colonial Heights batters and struck out 18 of them. She threw 82 pitches, 66 of which were strikes. 

She walked one and allowed just one hit: Logan Wears’s sixth inning triple.

“Tonight, the best thing was my rise ball,” Hodges said. “A lot of the girls were going under the ball more, so I attacked them up in the zone. Once they figured that out, I started going down with changeup or drop and throwing some fastballs as well.”

Her fastball, she said, has been clocked at 70.2 miles per hour.

That’s all very nice, she added, but what’s truly meaningful is this experience she’s sharing with those who wear the Matoaca uniform. 

“For me, it’s about everybody working as a team, having a great attitude, and continuing to help others,” she said. “It’s seeing others struggling and helping them up. Being a great teammate is always good and makes the team better.”