JAX WILLIAMS-EUFAULA
A supporting family and a strong faith are two of the many virtues that Eufaula senior Jax Williams brings to the baseball diamond with him. Jax is a two-year starter for the Ironheads who can play a variety of positions for coach Josh Luna. He grew up in Seminole, moved to New Lima and then to Eufaula during his freshman year.
“I started playing when I was young and played travel ball from the third through the sixth grade. My mom has really been the driving force for me in baseball. She was a pretty good softball player who played college ball at East Central and she’s the one who drives me to always give 100 percent, and my dad instilled a strong work ethic in me and my grandma has always been one of my biggest supporters and Jesus has always played a role in my life.”
Although he can play a number of positions, Jax’s favorite position is catcher.
“I like being in charge of the field and being involved in every play. I think the hardest things about playing catcher are the wear and tear on the knees physically and mentally it’s dealing with losses because I’m super competitive and tend to blame losses on myself.”
Jax is also expected to take the mound some this year for the Ironheads after not pitching for a while.
“I started pitching in seventh grade in Seminole and then got a lot better at it when I moved to New Lima, but I haven’t pitched much since I came to Eufaula.”
You can see the influence of his faith as he described his all-time highlight in baseball.
“Last year at regionals we were getting ready to play and I said my pre-game prayer. Then Luke Hodgens and I sat on the bench, and I started writing on a clipboard. Luke asked me what I was writing and I said Exodus 20:15 “You shall not steal’. And later in that game I threw two or three guys out that were trying to steal second and that’s my all-time favorite game,” Jax laughed.
Playing at the next level is certainly on the mind of Williams as he looks to the coming season.
“I hurt my shoulder in a car wreck my sophomore year and I’ve come back slowly from that, so my goals this year are to make all-district and maybe all-state and to get my name out there more to see if I can get a college to take a chance on me. If not, I’ll go to OSU-IT next year and study power plant technology.”
