Exeter softball player stays in practice
April 29, 2020

Caden Swearingen
After schools shut down due to COVID-19, parents struggled to provide learning resources to meet their students needs. As the year was cut short, so was spring sports.
After MSHSAA shut down spring sports in schools across the state, students lost their stress reliever and favorite past time activity. They’re still practicing sports on the weekends and weekdays, though. It gives them a chance to go outside and relieve some tension of being stuck in quarantine.
15 year old Alyssa Whisenhunt, the daughter of Jerry and Melissa Whisenhunt, of Exeter, has played softball since she was five years old and travel-ball since she was nine.
Every day, she does a series of body conditioning exercises. During the quarantine, she is preparing for softball by using a clothesline pole for pull-ups. Whisenhunt also does push-ups and agility exercises for speed and quickness, as well as medicine balls and weights. Whisenhunt practices hitting, too. Normally she would take hitting lessons from Lori Videmschek from Purdy. She has a tee and a huge net where she does all her drills while hitting. She also has a pitching machine she uses to hit from. After Whisenhunt practices her hitting, she starts pitching.
Whisenhunt has a lot of pitching drills she does to build up leg strength. She also works on spin and accuracy. Whisenhunt usually goes to Lisa Packwood for pitching lessons.
When Whisenhunt’s father, Jerry, gets home from work, he plays catch with her. Melissa Whisenhunt said it looks like USSSA is going to open up so they can salvage some travel-ball season. As of right now, they aren't sure what high schools will participate. There has been some talk, but nothing definite.
Whisenhunt will attend a Jerrad Hardin Fastpitch Camp in Arkansas that hasn't been cancelled as of yet, where she will get instruction from 12 college softball coaches. It's a prospect camp. At the end of July, Whisenhunt is scheduled to go to Elizabethtown, Ky., where she has been nominated to play in the Softball Youth All American Games.
"Alyssa has worked very hard to get where she is today with the sport," her mother said.
“A lot of people don't understand her dedication to the sport,” she added, “including her peers. After losing her brother in January of 2019, it gave her extra fuel not to give up.”
After schools shut down due to COVID-19, parents struggled to provide learning resources to meet their students needs. As the year was cut short, so was spring sports.
After MSHSAA shut down spring sports in schools across the state, students lost their stress reliever and favorite past time activity. They’re still practicing sports on the weekends and weekdays, though. It gives them a chance to go outside and relieve some tension of being stuck in quarantine.
15 year old Alyssa Whisenhunt, the daughter of Jerry and Melissa Whisenhunt, of Exeter, has played softball since she was five years old and travel-ball since she was nine.
Every day, she does a series of body conditioning exercises. During the quarantine, she is preparing for softball by using a clothesline pole for pull-ups. Whisenhunt also does push-ups and agility exercises for speed and quickness, as well as medicine balls and weights. Whisenhunt practices hitting, too. Normally she would take hitting lessons from Lori Videmschek from Purdy. She has a tee and a huge net where she does all her drills while hitting. She also has a pitching machine she uses to hit from. After Whisenhunt practices her hitting, she starts pitching.
Whisenhunt has a lot of pitching drills she does to build up leg strength. She also works on spin and accuracy. Whisenhunt usually goes to Lisa Packwood for pitching lessons.
When Whisenhunt’s father, Jerry, gets home from work, he plays catch with her. Melissa Whisenhunt said it looks like USSSA is going to open up so they can salvage some travel-ball season. As of right now, they aren't sure what high schools will participate. There has been some talk, but nothing definite.
Whisenhunt will attend a Jerrad Hardin Fastpitch Camp in Arkansas that hasn't been cancelled as of yet, where she will get instruction from 12 college softball coaches. It's a prospect camp. At the end of July, Whisenhunt is scheduled to go to Elizabethtown, Ky., where she has been nominated to play in the Softball Youth All American Games.
"Alyssa has worked very hard to get where she is today with the sport," her mother said.
“A lot of people don't understand her dedication to the sport,” she added, “including her peers. After losing her brother in January of 2019, it gave her extra fuel not to give up.”