Coupeville Sports

Former Coupeville ace Stella Johnson, who’s an 8th grader, scored 16 runs for a high-flying Kentucky high school softball team which went to the state quarterfinals. (Mimi Johnson photo)

Two years ago, Stella Johnson and Jill Prince were Coupeville 6th graders, key members of a Central Whidbey Little League softball team which advanced to the state tourney.

Jump ahead to the spring of 2019, and the now 8th graders found themselves on still-successful, but divergent, paths.

Prince swung a big bat for the current CWLL Juniors squad, which finished 13-1, and was a team manager for the high school diamond team.

But, while the CHS sluggers went to the 1A state tourney, where they toppled highly-ranked Deer Park, Prince stayed home.

She’ll get her chance to pull on a high school uniform next spring as a freshman, but not until then.

Johnson, on the other hand, is already a battle-hardened vet for a Boyle County High School team which just ended its run at the state tourney.

Stella and older bother Elliott moved to Kentucky with parents Scott and Mimi after that 2017 little league state tourney appearance, and her new home state allows for a much-longer high school playing career.

As in Johnson appeared in 23 of her team’s 32 games this spring, while still in middle school.

Kentucky is one of just six states, joining Mississippi, Delaware, Alabama, North Dakota, and Arkansas, to allow 7th and 8th graders to play varsity high school sports without restriction.

It actually used to be even more open in Kentucky, until the state tightened things up a bit.

Whitney Creech of Jenkins, the state’s all-time leading scorer in girls basketball with 5,527 points, played eight seasons on her high school team.

She went from averaging 2.5 points a night as a 5th grader(!) to tossing in 50.3 a game during her senior season in 2015-2016.

Johnson won’t get to have an eight-season varsity career, but she could easily put in five years.

After playing middle school softball as a 7th grader, she tried out for both middle school volleyball and high school softball during the same week this year.

An offer of a spot came back from both teams, and Johnson opted for the chance to pursue her softball dream.

She pulled double duty, starting at second and short for the school’s JV team, while operating as a courtesy runner for the varsity team’s pitcher and catcher.

Johnson took full advantage of her time on the varsity diamond, stealing three bases and coming around to score 16 times.

That included a game against East Robertson where she tapped home three times in one afternoon.

Her 16 runs was sixth-best on the team, with the top five scorers all being full-time starters.

Boyle County finished the season 26-6, falling 4-0 to the state’s #1 team, undefeated Male High School out of Louisville, in the state quarterfinals Friday night.

For Johnson, getting the chance to kick off her high school softball career before she’s even in high school was huge.

“It was such a great experience for her – her coaches are amazing and her teammates embraced her,” said mom Mimi. “It’s a pretty awesome group of girls. We have been blessed this season.”