ATHENS -- Ever since she was 8 years old, playing in a Snellville softball league for 10-year-olds, Megan Wiggins was told repeatedly that she could do things on the field that no one else could.
Of course, the sources of those proclamations were somewhat biased.
“My parents always told me I was the best,” Wiggins said, laughing about when she first figured out she was pretty good at this game. “I don’t know about that, but I did figure out pretty quickly that this was my knack.”
Andy and Debbie Wiggins, Megan’s parents, were indeed biased. But they were also prophetic. A decade later, Megan Wiggins still might be the best softball player around.
Last weekend, Wiggins wore the outfit of a Georgia superhero. Her grand slam Saturday provided the winning runs in the second game of the Super Regional in Athens. In the field, she made circus catches in both games against California.
For the season, Wiggins leads the team in RBIs (54), is tied for the lead in home runs (15) and is second in batting average (.411). And she’s peaking at the perfect time, batting .500 with six RBIs in the Super Regional.
But the do-it-all play of Wiggins can’t be summed up in stats alone. Wiggins is special because of what’s inside her.
A half-hour after the clinching win Saturday, Wiggins was talking about her teammates, and how they are equally dangerous at the plate. She talked about how great her pitcher, Sarah McCloud, had been over the weekend. And she acknowledged that her diving catch, indeed, was pretty “sweet.”
But she turned steely when told that the California coach had said the Washington pitchers were better than Georgia’s.
“She said that, huh? We’ll see about that,” Wiggins said, in part defending her pitcher, in part accepting the challenge to see if she and her teammates can rough up Washington ace Danielle Lawrie. “She’s good, but she won’t intimidate us. We’re fighters. We don’t get intimidated by anyone.”
Georgia coach Lu Harris-Champer wasn’t about to be against Wiggins.
“She’s really come into her own this season, and it’s been awesome to watch,” said coach Lu Harris-Champer. “I’m not sure we’ve still seen everything she’s capable of being. I thinks she still has more in her, but she is just a terrific athlete and I’m super proud of her.”
At Shiloh High School, she was the AJC player of the year in 2007, hitting .486 with seven homers and 20 RBIs. Current teammate Brianna Hesson, a 2007 North Gwinnett High School graduate, said Wiggins was a superstar in high school.
“She was the talk of the town when she was at Shiloh,” Hesson said. “It was more than that Shiloh had Wiggins, it was like Wiggins was Shiloh. That’s how good she was. And she’s done nothing but get better.”
In the fall of Wiggins’ freshman year, she broke her ankle. The next year, she broke her hand and missed the first 20 games of the season. So 2010 was the first full, healthy season for Wiggins.
“That was my No. 1 goal for the year, stay healthy,” she said. “It feels good to be a go-to player on this team, but really, it can be anybody up and down this lineup. We’ve all worked so hard this season. I try not to think about me being the offensive leader or anything.”
About the Author
