Byrom making most of second chance

CARROLLTON, Georgia – It’s a story of perseverance, of overcoming obstacles, of a coach pushing an athlete to keep trying.

It’s a story of losing faith in yourself, and then finding yourself again just in time to lead your team to a conference title and a berth in the World Series.

It’s a comeback story if there ever was one.

It’s Blair Byrom’s story.

Byrom is a pitcher/second baseman for the West Georgia Tech Golden Knights fast pitch softball team.

The Golden Knights will compete with 15 other schools from across the country in the National Club Softball Association World Series in Columbus, Ga. starting on May 17.

But were it not for persistent phone calls from WGTC head coach Stephanie Herrera, “at least two to three times a week,” last fall, Bynom would not be in this position.

It wasn’t that long ago, in the fall of 2011 and the spring of 2012 to be exact, that Byrom lost total faith and confidence in herself as a freshman at Central Alabama Community College.

She was in a funk. She didn’t love the game anymore.

“I didn’t believe in myself. I didn’t want to play softball again. I moved back to Tyrone (Ga.) and started taking classes at West Georgia Tech. I was done with the game. The coach at CACC changed my mechanics in the circle, and I just wasn’t the same pitcher. I was tired and frustrated,” Byrom said.

Enter Stephanie Herrera.

Herrera got wind that Byrom wasn’t playing anymore and began calling.

“I said no, that I didn’t want to play,” Byrom said. “She called and called and called. I told her no every time.”

That didn’t stop Herrera. She persisted.

Byrom kept saying no.

“I told her if she just gave me a chance that she would not be disappointed,” Herrera said. “She finally agreed to a workout. When I saw her for the first time, I knew right away that she would be an asset on our team.”

“I just wanted to get her off my back,” Byrom said. “Well, I ended up loving the girls, and something about being out there made me really miss the game.”

It, whatever “it” is, didn’t come back to Byrom all at once. She agreed to join the team, but the time off plus her lack of confidence at the time meant she would have to work extra hard to get back into playing shape.

“Coach Herrera kept pushing me,” Byrom said. “She kept believing in me. She told me that I couldn’t expect to be off the field for so long and just walk back into it. She kept saying ‘You got it, you got it, I believe in you.’”

The hard work in those short months paid off, and Byrom has turned into one of the leaders on the Golden Knights squad which completed its first full season of competition 36-37 overall and 17-1 in the conference against a schedule loaded with four-year schools and Division I junior college programs.

Byrom has an 11-4 record in the circle. In 103 innings pitched, she has allowed just 99 hits with 62 strikeouts and 24 walks. Her ERA is 2.76.

“She really has been a huge piece for us this season, especially in the circle the last six appearances where she has just pitched lights-out,” Herrera said. “She is at the top of her game. She has been a leader offensively as well.”

Byrom didn’t even pick up a bat at Central Alabama, where she was used exclusively as a pitcher, but she has flourished, especially recently, at the plate for the Golden Knights.

“She is a glad slap-hitter from the left side for us. She moved up in the lineup because she produces in key situations. She will place the ball exactly where it needs to be to move or score runners.”

Byrom’s eligibility will be up after this season, and she said she intends to hang the cleats up, for good this time, while she focuses on a criminal justice career.

“I want to be a behavioral analyst for the F.B.I.,” she said. “It’s all about reading people and doing work in criminal profiling.”

Byrom also credited her pitching coach, David Jenkins, and her parents, Carroll and Beverly Byrom of Tyrone, for helping her get to where she is today.

Byrom brings a championship pedigree to West Georgia Tech, having won the Georgia Independent Schools Association state championship as a high school junior at Arlington Christian School.

“That was definitely the highlight of my career so far,” she said.

West Georgia Tech will attempt to win a national championship at the NCSA World Series, which would be quite the accomplishment considering this is the school’s first full season of competition on any level.

WGTC will make the big jump to a Division I junior college program next year and compete in the Georgia Collegiate Athletic Association – Region 17.

“I am excited. I can tell you that I am tired of waiting. The two weeks off has gone by so slow, but I think we are ready,” Byrom said.

“We are a family. We have really meshed as a team lately, and I think we are playing our best at the right time. It would be nice to be able to bring back a championship.”

For Byrom, all of this would not be possible were it not for the persistent coach who wouldn’t take “no” for an answer.