ELLA LaBOUNTY
Warner Eagle Softball
Warner fastpitch coach Mickey Duncan remembers what got him excited about returning to the Lady Eagles program in his second stint of coaching.
Having previously assisted in fastpitch and led slowpitch, Duncan came back four seasons ago to a group of six varsity players and had to recruit from other sports just to have a season. Way down at the sixth grade level was a nucleus of future greatness.
One of those was a pitcher, now-sophomore Ella LaBounty.
“That group just went to work and has been working ever since,” Duncan said. “Ella herself has put in the time on her craft and it’s turned our fortunes around. Really high expectations for her group going forward.”
LaBounty has also pitched for the Legends 18, a mix of girls from Northwest Arkansas and Oklahoma who play travel ball. She was primarily an infielder her first year due to three-deep pitching depth already in place.
This past season at Warner, she had a 22-7 record and a 1.07 ERA with 264 strikeouts over 150.2 innings pitched, with just 54 walks and 68 hits. She hit .551 in 69 at-bats with 10 doubles, two triples, 10 home runs and 42 RBIs.
As a freshman she hit .391 with eight home runs and seven doubles. In between she hit .744 in slowpitch with nine doubles but just three home runs, partly because of a limited 14-game schedule due to rainouts and also that she spends all but the little over a month of slowpitch season on the fastpitch circuit.
“I didn’t start playing slowpitch until after I got to middle school,” she said.
While fastpitch is her pronounced passion, she’s a three-sport athlete at Warner, now in basketball and in the spring, she’ll do the discus and shot put.
Her role model? Former Oklahoma Sooner Jordy Bahl, a key part of their third national title of four straight before playing this past season at Nebraska.
“Just the way she carries herself and the confidence she has on the field,” LaBounty said in describing what inspires her in Bahl.
Duncan is inspired by that in LaBounty.
“Her confidence this season, she was so ready to just take over games and say ‘here it is, try and hit it,'” he said. “I had an inkling she would have a special year. She became confident with the pitches we were calling and trusted a lot of things we did. I’m definitely looking forward to her progression over her remaining two years and what she has beyond that.”
LaBounty also excels in the classroom with a 4.0 GPA, and is active on the school’s Leadership Team and in Teens for Christ.
“She’s just the complete all-around kid, not just in her athletic skills, but with the intangibles — good character, that kind of thing,” Duncan said. “You don’t have to worry about whether Ella is going to put forth the effort and do her best in whatever she’s doing.”
