Meet Avery Stutts, the 3A Player of the Year

LAURINBURG — The Scotland Fighting Scots softball team has recently gotten a lot of recognition from the North Carolina High School Coaches Association with six girls earning a spot on the 3A All District team last week. One of them was rising senior Avery Stutts, who was named 3A Player of the Year for the Scotland County Schools district. The numbers don’t lie, she was a dominant force the entire season.

Stutts had a heavy workload as a pitcher, giving Scotland 124 innings over 21 games with just 12 earned runs allowed, good for a staggering ERA of 0.68. She gave batters fits all year long, holding them to a batting average of .120 and obtaining 193 strikeouts.

Stutts was equally as dominant as a batter with an insane .417 batting average and .592 on base percentage. She also hit five homers, drove in 22 runs and drew 15 walks.

Outside of the pure dominance from a statistical standpoint, Stutts is passionate about the game and wants to be great. Head Coach Adam Romaine made clear that Stutts will set her mind to something and do whatever it takes to achieve it.

“Her mindset is she wants to be successful and she’s going to do everything she can to be successful,” Romaine said. “She’s always open with you and will ask for extra time to do whatever she thinks she needs to be successful.”

Stutts’ season is impressive enough when you look at the numbers. It is even more impressive when you consider that Stutts had to have surgery on her pitching hand in December. There was never a doubt in Romaine’s mind that she would get back to form in no time because of her dedication to the game.

“I didn’t want to over jinx myself, but I knew her work ethic would allow her to be ok and get back to 100%,” Romaine said.

As for following sports, Stutts primarily likes to watch MLB baseball and is an Atlanta Braves fan in addition to college softball. Stutts is already committed to play at Campbell University and plans to major in either biology or physical therapy.

After dominating at the high school level for years, Stutts has her future goals set after Keagan Rothrock from the Florida Gators softball team. Rothrock won SEC Freshman of the Year while dominating opponents all season.

“What Rothrock from Florida did really impressed me,” Stutts said. “That’s my goal, I want to be able to dominate as soon as I go into college.”

Outside of softball, Stutts loves crafts and hands on activities. She also likes to cook and bake.

When asked about her family connections and how it shaped her, Stutts mentioned how good of a relationship she has with her brother. She pointed to a game where she got hit three different times as an example.

“When I came home from Tennessee I got hit three times in my rib, leg and kneecap and I went in his room to tell him all about it,” Stutts said. “Even if he acts like he doesn’t care I know he does because we are the best duo in the house.”

Stutts has given the Fighting Scots three years of incredible play thus far and shown incredible resiliency as evidenced by her hand surgery. After getting recognition from other coaches around the state, she heads into her senior year with lofty goals and a bright future awaiting her at Campbell.