Kayla Myers Sets NC All-time Record for Hits

Two Homers in State Playoffs Put Swain County Star in the Books

For NSR softball prospect, Kayla Myers, setting records was nothing new.  In fact, it had become her habit.  By the end of her junior year at Swain County High in Bryson City, North Carolina, Kayla had already helped lead the volleyball team to a state championship, the school’s first in volleyball, set the school record for career three-point field goals as a point guard, and establish a new standard for base hits as a three-year starter on the softball team.  All-conference and MVP plaques lined the walls in her room.  Still, her next achievement would surpass even her high expectations.

Going into her senior season for the Maroon Devils softball team this past spring, Kayla had a shot at becoming the all-time hits leader in North Carolina high school softball history.  The 5’3”, 115-pound Myers had a ways to go and she knew it.  Needing more than 45 hits to surpass Kassie Norton’s 184 (South View), Kayla went to work.  Undaunted by the pressure to get in the record books, Kayla would do what she usually does, focus and hit everything in the strike zone.  As a senior, and her team going 22-4, she would bat .644 with 33 runs batted in, 14 steals and five home runs during the regular season.  As her team headed into the conference tournament held at Hayesville High, the record seemed out of reach.  Kayla needed 13 hits to be the new state standard bearer. 

Then, Kayla did something a lot of her fans at Swain County High School had hoped for, but few actually expected.  In three games, while leading her team to the conference tournament title, Kayla ran off 10 consecutive hits, including her sixth homer of the year.  The extraordinary performance not only put her within three hits of the all-time record, but it also gave Swain the number one seed in the West division of the state tournament.

Two games later, the Catawba College signee would be facing conference nemesis Hayesville in the third round of the state playoffs needing but one hit to set the record and two to write another accomplishment on her lengthy resume.  With the game tied at zeroes in the fifth inning, Kayla stepped to the plate with one runner on base.  The first pitch she saw would not touch the ground again until it landed 210 feet from the batter’s box beyond the right field fence. She had tied the state mark.  A standing ovation by both teams and fans would not be enough for Kayla on that day as later in that same inning she would finally have her shot at becoming the greatest hitter in North Carolina history. 

This time, it took two pitches.  With two on base, Kayla launched a 230-foot blast to over the right field fence.  She had tied and set the record in the same inning with two home runs.  With her team anxiously waiting on her, Kayla, in typical form, simply ran the bases with no fist pumps or hat doffing.  She just had a huge smile on her face. 

Although Swain would go on to lose the state championship game to two-time defending title holders, East Surry, Kayla Myers’ position in the record books would be secured.  She had become the greatest hitter in the history of North Carolina fastpitch softball history.