Reese Pattison grew up walking the halls of Eudora schools looking up to the athletes’ photos on the walls. Now she has her own records in the books.
“It’s really cool to have my picture up there and know that my name is going to be in that record book,” she said.
Pattison is walking away from her junior softball season with eight records and a third-place finish at state – but she said her work is not done yet.
Pattison’s successful season is a result of her team’s chemistry this year, though, she said. They closed out the season with a 24-5 record.
Her two biggest and proudest accomplishments were beating the school home run and RBI record, she said.
“I was really proud and happy about those accomplishments, but really, the support for my teammates did make it a lot easier for me to do that because they just allowed me to relax and have fun with it, and also focusing on the bigger picture — which is just like getting runs across the board and helping your team win is the bigger picture for me,” she said.
Pattison broke both the record for home runs in a season and career with 13. The career record was formerly held by Kyla Etter with 9 from 2016 to 2019.
Jaiden Burris and Lexi Born are behind Pattison with 8 for the season this year. Before this year, the record was held by Jayla Pierce with 7 home runs in the 2021 season.
It was a special first game against Wellsville when she broke the season homerun record, she said. Coach Bill Finucane made sure she got to keep the exact ball she used to break that record and wrote a message on it reminding her of its importance, she said.
Pattison also broke the record for most RBIs – both season and career — 50 for the season, breaking the record of 40 by Jayla Pierce in 2021. Pattison has 103 for her career so far, with the previous record of 82 by Jordan Flakus from 2014-2017.
Pattison also has the extra base hits season record with 31. Born follows with 25 this year. Pattison broke the season record for most at bats with 104, one more than Katie Courter with 103 this year.
She also has the most career hits with 126, beating Flakus’ record of 120, as well as the record for season doubles with 18. Courter follows with 15 this year.
The team’s first game of the season was against Blue Valley Southwest, a team they usually wouldn’t play against but wanted the challenge, she said. It started with a bunch of runs, but proved to be more of a competition as it went along. The Cardinals won the game 16-13. It was a highlight of the team’s season because of the high-scoring competition to start the season, she said.
“We were a little bit nervous going into that game, but then we scored all those runs in the first inning, and we’re kind of relaxed but little did we know that that would be a three-hour long game,” Pattison said.
Her favorite part of the season was regionals, though. The team won against Paola to play against Tonganoxie in the championship game. The win was something that gave confidence to her and her team members, she said.
“I just really want to express how thankful and proud I am of my teammates because it was just a great season,” Pattison said. “We were bonded so well and every single person on the Eudora softball team played a part in our success this year.”
Finucane said Pattison puts in the work to make continued improvement, but she’s doing it to be a better leader for the team, not for notoriety.
“She’s just a great example, and she takes it very seriously,” he said.
Most of her teammates agree she is the definition of a leader, he said. That hasn’t stopped Pattison’s continued improvement every season, Finucane said.
A home run record like hers is rare, he said. Usually the team averages about 10 to 13 home runs total for the season, but Pattison got 13 all on her own this year. It wasn’t just her, though. The team totaled 38 home runs this year
“That’s just kind of a rarity typically in Eudora softball, because historically we’ve had some kids that can hit home runs but you know nothing to this quantity,” he said.
As she moves into her senior year season, Finucane just hopes her improvement continues, which he has no doubt about because of her drive and passion for the sport, he said.
“As far as coaching someone like her, it’s a coach’s dream to have a young lady like her just for everything that she does with the team, for the team, and as an example for the team – tremendous player on the field, and a tremendous player in the dugout in regards to team chemistry,” Finucane said.
Finucane said she’s also helped bring back some team camaraderie, something refreshing for him to see. It helped the team achieve what they did this season, he said.
Pattison’s dad, Ty, echoed Finucane and said his daughter’s season was team-focused, never about herself.
“What makes me proud is she just goes out there and she respects her team, and she praises her team and it’s not about her,” he said.
Not only did he feel proud of her technical growth this year, but he’s also proud of her leadership qualities that brought the team together.
“I’ve seen her grow tremendously, especially in the batting area, and then just behind the plate as a catcher,” he said. “I just see her being more confident back there.”
He hopes the team has another match-up with Wamego in the finals next year and brings home a state championship with her team.
With her senior year approaching, Pattison looks forward to breaking more records, specifically the caught stealing record since she’s been a catcher her whole life, she said. She also hopes to make it the state championship again.
It feels good to be moving in the right direction as a team, she said, especially after a bit of a losing streak after playing Spring Hill last year. This year, when the team played Spring Hill, although they did lose, they bounced back right after, she said.
Overall, the season was exciting, energetic and fun, she said.
“We had so many home runs from everyone on the team, really,” Pattison said. “Games are so much fun when you score a lot with your teammates, and I think we did a great job of that.”
Reach reporter Sara Maloney at [email protected]
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