HALL OF FAME FEATURE: Mary Beth Smith '16

After beginning her collegiate softball career at a Division I school, Mary Beth Smith ’16 decided to transfer to Averett University because she knew it was a chance to continue her career with a group of teammates whom she had played with since she was a young teenager. What she didn’t know was that she would go on to have one of the most dominant careers in Averett softball history while adding a lifetime of memories that will soon include being inducted into the Averett Athletics Hall of Fame on Oct. 8.

“I was kind of in shock because I wasn't expecting it,” Smith said of the call notifying her that she would be inducted as part of the 2022 class. “It was really nice to know that my career was being remembered and it was nice to know that what we did as a team had an impact on the program.”

Many times, you have great pitchers and you have great hitters. Seldom are they both. Smith is an exception. She finished her career as one of the top pitchers and hitters in program history after playing her final three seasons for the Cougars from 2014-16 after transferring from East Carolina University. The two-time USA South Conference Pitcher of the Year went 53-21 in the circle with a 2.21 earned run average with 430 strikeouts in 472.2 innings pitched. She ranks first all-time in Averett's record book in career and single-season pitching wins, career and single-season strikeouts, career and single-season lowest opponent batting average, career shutouts and career and single-season strikeouts per seven innings. She also ranks second in career ERA and pitching appearances and fourth in career innings pitched.

“Mary Beth was an integral part of that change of team culture,” said Bren Taylor, former Averett softball coach. “She helped changed the mindset of everybody and she was the powerhouse that we needed to change the program around and have the success that we did.”

Smith was equally as dominate at the plate as she was in the circle. She says being allowed to hit and pitch was a big reason in her decision to transfer to Averett.

At the time of her induction she ranks second in career RBIs (124), third in career batting average (.410), fourth in home runs (18) and nine in hits (148). She also holds records for career slugging percentage (.690), single-single home runs (11), total bases in a game (11) and the USA South record for RBIs in a single game (nine). The native of Elon, North Carolina, also finished with 41 doubles, three triples and 78 runs scored while helping the Cougars win the 2015 conference regular season title and earn an at-large berth into the NCAA Regionals. Smith was a two-time NFCA All-Region selection, two-time all-state selection and three-time all-conference performer while also being named to the 2016 USA South All-Tournament Team. She also earned academic all-conference accolades.

“Mary Beth has that natural talent,” Taylor said. “She came in as a beast. She had the power hitting and the fast pitching that Averett hadn’t really seen before. She was dominant in the circle because of it…She came here and was determined to really make a go of it. She pushed other players to be like her and to really push hard and play well.”

The groundwork for Averett’s success had been laid through a focus of recruiting the strong local talent from area high schools and keeping them local. Getting Smith, who went to nearby Bartlett Yancey High School, to join the Cougars continued that mission and turned out to be an important pipeline for Averett. Averett’s 2015 roster had six former BY players on it — including fellow Averett Athletics Hall of Fame class member Taylor Dix Paschal — so the on-field connection was already established.  

“It was great getting to play with girls that I'd been playing ball with ever since I was, you know, 12 and 13 years old,” Smith said. “It made it a little easier to go out there and be successful having so much chemistry with the girls I was on the field with.”

The 2015 season for the Cougars holds lots of special memories in particular as Averett was crowned USA South regular season champions after ranking as high as No. 13 nationally. Although the Cougars slipped up in the conference tournament, they reached the NCAA Tournament for the first time in over a decade while earning the program’s first at-large bid. Smith recounted the moment Averett clinched the regular season title and said it was one of her favorite softball memories. 

“I remember we were playing at William Peace and we still had quite a few games left in the season, but we knew that this was the weekend that, you know, would make or break it,” she said. “I just remember after the game, we all just sat around just with big goofy grins on our face and we felt like we had accomplished something. And like that game, it wasn't even that we played super well that game, but because of what we had done throughout the season, we knew we were in the position to win conference and that's ultimately your goal.”

The team had to play the waiting game to see if Averett would earn an at-large berth into the 2015 NCAA Tournament. Smith remembers viewing party that the team had in the president’s room in the Grant Center and the moment the Cougars heard their named called during the selection show.

“It was just all of us and we started freaking out,” she recalled. “We were cheering and we were just so excited and it almost didn’t set in what a big deal getting an at-large bid was. It ended up being more gratifying because we didn’t have just one hot weekend. We consistently performed well and won and that earned us that spot in the tournament. It was the fact we had performed from February all the way to May, so it made it even more special.” 

The experience of the NCAA Tournament trip was just a memorable for her as the viewing party. 

“My favorite part of the tournament isn’t even related to the game,” Smith admitted. “I remember that we got a sleeper bus and all of us thought that was just the coolest thing. We all laid in the bunks and got to be closer, so my favorite part of making the tournament is getting to spend that time with those girls and sharing those moments with them.” 

With all the success her team had in 2015, Smith knew there was more she wanted to accomplish individually and as a team the next season. She had just missed breaking the program record for strikeouts in a single season.

“I remember my junior year I was just shy of setting the single-season strikeout record, and I had told our graduate assistant coach M.K. (Pegram) that that was going to be my goal for the next year,” Smith said. “I wanted that record and I was going to work for it. I mean, I'm there to help the team win, but that was going to be my personal goal.”

That moment finally came for Smith in the 2016 USA South Conference Tournament semifinal game where she threw a one-hitter to help advance the Cougars to the championship series. 

 “I remember we were in conference tournament senior year and we were playing Maryville, and funny enough, the Maryville coach was my assistant coach at East Carolina,” Smith said. “So we knew each other and I remember I struck out one of her girls to break the record and she knew. And I started crying in the circle, and she brought the ball. That was one of the things that kind of sticks out for me.” 

Smith says that her experiences at Averett on and off the field helped prepare her to be where she is now. She gives special credit to Meg Stevens, Averett vice president, director of athletics and campus operations, for the preparation. 

“She has really high expectations for her student-athletes and she's one of those people that you want to impress, like you don't want to let her down,” Smith said. “I feel like having her as an athletic director made me mature a little bit more because, I was so keen on being the type of person and student-athlete she wanted and expected that it made me grow up a little bit. I wanted to meet her expectations.”

Smith knows that all of her success couldn’t have been achieved without her teammates and coaches that were with her every step of the way. 

“Part of the reason I was a good pitcher is the wins I earned,” she said. “But I can't get those wins without a defense behind me and without girls in the lineup scoring, because I mean, I could give up no runs in a game but at the end of the day, if we don't hit, we're not going to win. So I want to thank the group of girls I played with because not only did they make it a good time, but they are part of the reason that I was successful.” 

Smith is still making her own softball memories playing as she is a member of a slow pitch team that travels all over the country to play and recently traveled to Florida to compete in USSSA A World Series after having won the USSSA B World Series last year. 

Although Smith now mostly plays outfield, she can still dial up one of those powerful signature pitches. When she returned for an Averett softball alumni day last spring, she threw out the first pitch with the same speed that she used to mow down opposing hitters, prompting the opposing coach to ask if Smith still had any eligibility left. It make have surprised that opposing coach, but for her former teammates who were there that day for the alumni event, they expected nothing less.