When it comes to being the heartbeat of a program, Pocola senior Kyleigh Combs has filled that role with both her performance and her leadership. “My personal goals this season are to make my teammates better and be the leader they look up to,” Combs said. “Making it back to state is also a huge goal for me, and I would like to make All State.”
Combs has the talent to back those goals up. In the circle, she has been nothing short of dominant, carrying a 20–2 record with 145 strikeouts in 95 innings pitched, a 0.753 ERA, and a .186 opponent batting average. Offensively, she’s just as consistent, hitting .371 with 23 RBIs, one home run, and no strikeouts this season.
Yet for Combs, softball is more than personal numbers — it’s about lifting her team to greater heights. “Our team morale has been great; there’s always a lot of energy in the dugout. All of us are very encouraging to each other, on and off the field,” she said.
That positivity has fueled the Lady Indians through an important year of growth. “The biggest improvement this year so far has been having so many different players step up in big moments and proving a lot of people wrong this year that thought we weren’t going to be very good,” Combs said. “We’ve overcome a lot of obstacles that have been thrown our way.”
The team’s hard work has already paid off with hardware. “Some of the team’s goals this year was to win the LeFlore County Tournament, and we did, to go back to state and win it this time,” Combs said. “We’ve been close every year I’ve been in high school and to win it; it would be a dream come true. To achieve these goals, we take one game at a time and keep each other in line when we need to.”
For Combs, the source of her team’s strength comes from something deeper than talent. “Our team’s biggest strength right now is the bond we have for each other and our relationship with Christ. We give Him all the glory,” she said.
Looking ahead, Combs is committed to continuing her career at Northeastern State University, but she already knows what she wants to leave behind at Pocola. “I want my legacy to be that I was a devoted Christian and overall, a good person,” she said. “I want people to look back and know that I was a hard worker and always strived to be the best teammate I could be.”
