Former Marble Falls softball player earns spot on Tarleton State team as walk-on
Marble Falls High School senior third baseman Hailey Wooten prepares to throw home to keep a Cedar Park runner from scoring during a game in April. The former Lady Mustang earned a spot on the Tarleton State University Texanns softball team as a walk-on this summer. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro
JENNIFER FIERRO • PICAYUNE STAFF
MARBLE FALLS — Long before she graduated from Marble Falls High School on June 1, Hailey Wooten had made up her mind she was going to Tarleton State University and thought she wouldn’t play softball anymore.
But thanks to a conversation and a continuing desire to play, Wooten accepted an invitation to join the Texanns as a walk-on.
“I just got more scared,” she said. “I didn’t want to stop playing. I didn’t want to hang up my cleats. I didn’t want to give it up.”
Wooten had talked to head softball coach Julie Mata about trading in her Mustang purple for Texanns purple.
“She said I’d have to work hard to earn a spot to play or start,” the former Lady Mustang said.
Wooten was a four-year letterman at third base. She said the hardest part about playing that position comes from what appears to be one of the simplest plays to make in the sport.
“You always have to expect a bunt,” she said. “If they catch you off guard, and they’re fast, they can beat throws. Balls come hard and fast, and you have to be ready for anything.”
The daughter of Boyle and Pam Wooten will major in kinesiology with the goal of being a coach.
The first team all-District 25-4A selection maintained a fielding average of better than .900, she said.
jfierro@thepicayune.com