- April 19, 2024
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Lady Buccaneer pitcher Leah Coffing signs a letter-of-intent to play for Montreat College. Photos by Michele Meyers
Lady Buccaneer pitcher Leah Coffing gives her thank you speech to her family, coaches, teammates and everyone who supported her.
2021 Lady Buccaneers Softball Team.
Head coach Kelsey Moskovits, MHS pitcher Leah Coffing and assistant coach David Moskovits.
Lady Buccaneer Leah Coffing.
Leah Coffing.
Leah Coffing started seriously playing softball at the age of 12.
Five years later, she is headed to Montreat College in Montreat, North Carolina, to continue playing the game she loves.
“We owe a lot to Leah,” head coach Kelsey Moskovits said. “It takes a lot to stick with a program and pitch strike after strike. She is incredibly dedicated. I have not known a single day she hasn’t pitched. Even when she tore her ACL, she sat on a bucket and pitched. She is an all around perfect student and wonderful young lady. She deserves every bit of success with Montreat.”
Prior to her freshman year at Mainland, Coffing was following her 3-year-old cousin down a ski slope while on a family vacation when she fell and tore her ACL. Initially, she questioned what she was going to do. Softball season was approaching and this was not part of her plan.
She approached Mainland’s softball coach Alec DeWeese and let him know that, while she could not play, she still wanted to be involved. DeWeese and then assistant coach Moskovits put her to work as their scorekeeper.
Coffing started playing her sophomore year in the spring of 2019, which was also Moskovits’ first season as head coach. The team went 0-8 that year, were 1-3 when COVID hit in 2020, and are headed to playoffs this year with a 6-10 season record. Currently, Coffing co-captains with rightfielder, senior Nina Samuel. Coffing knew it was necessary for her to step into a leadership role because she has the most experience on the team and enjoys encouraging her teammates to improve.
“I am really proud of coach Moskovits and how she’s leading our team,” Coffing said. “Honestly, when I came to Mainland, initially, I didn’t think it would be anything like this. I just came to play and do as much as I could for the team. She has taken us a long way.”
Coffing will be leading her team into playoffs next week, listening to Megan Thee Stallion and reveling in one of the last pregame rituals of "Down by the River" with her fellow Buccaneers.
