There are 42 lines in the Southmont softball record book. Half are season and half are career records.
Ella Barry put her name on 19 of those lines this season.
That alone is enough reason to name her Journal Review Player of the Year.
But the sophomore, winning her second softball POY award to go along with this year’s basketball award, didn’t even mention records when asked about the season.
It was team first.
“Winning sectional and regionals were the highlights this season,” she said. “Beating Danville to win our tourney was fun too.”
The Danville win will come up again later.
Barry helped lead the Mounties to a 19-6 record. A handful of rainouts kept the wins’ total from probably getting better. They finished 10-4 in the first year of the Monon Conference, including end-of-conference season wins over Western Boone, who went all the way to the state finals.
Oh yes, they got as far as the semi-state in the 2A tournament, losing to the eventual state champions.
Barry was named First Team All-State, the fourth Southmont player to attain that award, but the first non-senior. She helped lead her Mounties to their 16th straight county title, the longest county-champs streak by any school in any sport. She threw a no-hitter against both county opponents.
But she is a teammate first.
“My teammates are incredible,” she said. “Every one of them! They all played a role in our success this year and they all push me to be better.”
Those teammates pushed her a long way, as the battered record book will attest to.
“Ella was outstanding for us,” South coach Dan Taylor noted. “In the (pitching) circle, she gave us a chance to win every game. As a hitter, she was a force and presented real challenges to opposing teams. Ella was a huge part of our success.”
Taylor, who picked up his 100th coaching win this season, also noted her intensity. “She is, in terms of competitiveness and willingness to work to get better, one of a kind,” he added. “She says that the only stat that matters is whether we win.”
The athlete just sees it as part of it all.
“Pressure is a privilege,” she said.
A privilege that was worn well.
Like the two no-no’s. Then six one-hitters. She struck out 237 batters and walked 20. There were 14 games with 10-plus strikeouts, and nine games with zero walks. She had eight shutouts, including a stretch of five consecutive, and was a part of a sixth (with Sammi Crosby). She had 92 innings where the other team went out 1-2-3 (138 innings pitched). She threw first-pitch strikes 71 percent of the time, and her opponent batting average was an anemic .148.
Her earned run average was 0.86, which was second-best in class 2A, her strikeouts and 17 wins were third-best in the state.
She broke Morgan Laws’ school ERA record and is the first Southmont pitcher to have an ERA of less than 1.00.
She was also close to getting on even more lines of the record book.
She was one home run from tying Macie Shirk and McKenzie Jordan for most in a season. She was .003 (literally one out made) from Sydney Casteel’s season batting average record. She was walked 23 times, intentionally 18 of those, “and a couple more un-intentional in the semi-state that were just the same,” Taylor noted.
She was four strikeouts from Jordan’s strikeouts per inning record. She is second or third in three more categories, with those and many more all in striking distance with two seasons yet to play.
Barry has also been busy in the offseason with all-star camps, which strengthens her for the high school campaigns.
“It helps with consistency and keeping my arm in shape,” she said. “It helps with muscle memory and allows me to keep my skills sharp all year and not just in season.”
That offseason work has allowed her to get her fastball velocity over 60 mph. She upped her number a couple digits this season and the goal is a couple more next year.
She is playing this summer for the Indiana Gold Magic National 15U team and also spent some time with the 18U team, posting some impressive numbers with both teams.
But back to the spring.
The Mounties only losses were to Cascade and North Putnam, who finished first and second in the conference, once to always-tough Tri-West, and then Tecumseh in the semi-state. The four teams combined for a 90-22 record, and the Mounties avenged the losses to North Put with a sectional win.
They got as high as third in the 2A rankings, finishing fourth.
The team leader also knows the role of coaches in a successful program.
“I want to thank all my coaches,” Barry said. “They all push me in different ways. Coach Taylor is positive and makes sure I keep my head up. He has really helped me with my hitting and improving that area of my game. Coach (Barry) Lewis and I work well together calling pitches and having a game plan. Coach (Chet) Remley pushes me to be better and I like joking around with him.”
Oh yes, the Danville game.
It was early in the season against Danville in the championship game of the Southmont Invitational.
South was up 4-3 in the bottom of the eighth, and Danville had runners on second and third with two outs.
Coach Lewis was there …
“Danville’s cleanup hitter was up (Maddie Newman),” Lewis said, “who led the Sagamore Conference in hitting in 2025.
Dan calls timeout and goes to the mound.
He wants to walk her.
Ella said, “I’ve struck her out twice and I’ll do it again, but you are the coach.”
Dan said pitch to her.
After a 3-0 start, it’s three rise balls and three swings and misses for the strikeout, the win and the championship of the tourney.
Her smile walking off the field was priceless. Gotta love the competitiveness of that girl.”
The second Player of the Year award in softball is Barry’s third overall, after the hoops award in the winter.
“It is cool to get the honor in two different sports,” Barry said. “I just take one season a time. My goal is to get better each year so I can help my team win.”
Those seasons all have to find time in the busy schedule of this student-athlete.
It starts at home.
“Thanks to my parents for traveling with me and making sure I can play,” Barry said of her folks Luke and Erin. “They are supportive of my goals and ambitions to play at the next level.”
That next level also starts to ramp up as college athletics become a bigger part of her world. She has already been on stages where college coaches have seen her, and the recruiting processes start to play out as she gets further into her high school career.
“My goal is to play in college,” she noted. “I want to play as much as I can and get in front of as many coaches as possible. We will see what happens in the future.”
If the future is anything like the past couple years, it will be quite an interesting journey for this two-sport/three-time Athlete of the Year.
