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Cathedral’s uniform selection day was the last one for Gracie Harrigill on Wednesday afternoon. She is a senior rolling into several final moments in her high school career.

For 14 years, she has played softball. While on the field, she is in her happy place.

“When I play, I don’t hear any outside noise,” Harrigill said. “You play each play like it is your last. You expect each ball to come to you. It is just something I feel comfortable doing. It feels like home.”

Travel ball was how she first fell in love with softball, she said. This year, she decided to enjoy her senior year and chose not to play travel ball. Asyia Pollard played with her on a travel ball team, and they became best friends through softball.

Pollard went to Cathedral from Pre-Kindergarten through her first-grade year, so that is how they met before softball, Harrigill said.

“The good thing about it is we do not play against each other,” Harrigill said. “We get way too competitive. It is good because one of our seasons is in the fall, and Natchez is in the spring. We can be at each other’s games as much as we can. I think that is the best part. We can be there to support each other all the time.”

Dance is another hobby of hers. She is a member of the Emerald Tide, she said. It translates onto the softball field because it expands her flexibility. In addition, dance keeps her in shape because of the cardio, she said.

Before joining the Emerald Tide, she did ballet and dance during middle school.

As she has matured, she has learned how to handle negative thoughts and moments. In three years, she has injured her ankle and her back. Her sophomore year, she was in a hitting slump for most of the season. 

“It is a game of failure. You will get knocked down, but it is all about how you will get up from being knocked down,” Harrigill said. “I was in a slump my sophomore year. The summer before my junior year, I just worked my butt off. I went to hitting lessons once a week. It paid off my junior season. It took me a while because I was in such a negative headspace for so long.”

The team’s goals are to win district, south state and the state championship, she said. She wants to take in and enjoy every moment of the game.

“I’m sad to see it go, but I know this chapter of my life is ending so I can do something new,” Harrigill said.

Her goal is to go to Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College and study business and finance. Studying business and finance would give her the background to work in real estate in the Biloxi area, she said.

“It is pretty, and there is always something to do. It is not too far from home, but it is far enough,” Harrigill said.