Bartow and Lake Wales boasted pitchers capable of taking their respective teams to the state tournament. George Jenkins, Mulberry and McKeel were among teams with pitchers good enough to get their teams into the playoffs, and Santa Fe Catholic boasted a freshman with a big upside.
Yet one thing was clear as the 2025 softball season evolved. One pitcher separated herself from the crowd, Lake Region senior pitcher Makenna Meadows.
Also one of the top hitters in the county, Meadows was a dominant pitcher who had her best pitching season of her career, quite an achievement considering she had been one of the top pitchers in the county the previous two seasons.
Meadows is The Ledger’s 2025 Softball Pitcher of the Year.
But for one game in which her defense didn’t do her any favors, the regional semifinals vs. Lake Wales, Meadows had a year to remember. She went 18-4 with a 0.65 ERA and 251 strikeouts in 141 innings. As a sophomore, she struck out 187 in 158.2 innings.
“I had a couple of off games as anybody would but for the most part, I am very happy with my season,” she said.
Disappointed in not making it to the state tournament in her career, Meadows did all she could throughout her career to accomplish that goal as she got better each year. She posted a 2.29 ERA as a freshman in limited duty. Then after becoming the No. 1 as a sophomore, earlier than expected because of Alex Wright’s injury, she posted a 1.29 ERA then a 1.01 ERA as a junior despite battling an injury all season. She, of course, was even better as a senior.
“I feel like going into this year,” she said. “I definitely knew that I had to change something because every hitter has seen me for for three or four years. So I knew I had to tighten up my spin and make my velocity go up in order to be as successful as successful as I was this year.”
In 24 appearances this season, Meadows allowed more than three hits just seven times and had 17 outings of allowing one run or less, including 12 scoreless outings.
Meadows’ senior season and Lake Region’s season ended abruptly when Lake Wales upset the Thunder in the regional semifinals, 8-7. Only two of the runs she allowed were earned as the Thunder committed five errors behind her. It was the third time Lake Wales faced her and was able to capitalize with seven hits.
“We were definitely pretty confident, but as the game started we started to see everybody else on the field get nervous,” Meadows said. “It kind of shifted the energy. Errors and stuff like that started happening because of the nervousness as other players that weren’t used to being on that type of stage and the type of game.”
Still, Meadows will go down as one of the top four or five pitchers in Lake Region history up with the likes of Cari Chewning, Haley Wiseman, Mary Haff and perhaps Savannah Barnett, who pitched the Thunder to the state title in 2019
Meadows also was a top hitter for Lake Region. She batted first or second and batted .389, which was second-best of her career after hitting .451 last year. However, she had career highs with 41 runs, 29 RBIs, 11 doubles and five triples. She also homered once and had a .378 batting average for her career.
Next year, Meadows will be playing college softball as she signed with St. John’s College in New York
“I can’t wait to contribute to a bigger program than just high school,” she said.
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Meadows’ brilliant season caps career as one of Lake Region’s all-time best pitchers
Reporting by Roy Fuoco, Lakeland Ledger / The Ledger
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
