Speed Demon

Armed with a seventy-one mile-per-hour fastball, Whitney Canion arrived at Baylor with a great deal of fanfare. No college softball pitcher had ever been clocked at more than seventy-three mph, so signing the Texas Gatorade Player of the Year from Aledo High School was a coup for the Lady Bears.

She has more than lived up to expectations as she became the first freshman in conference history to be named the Big 12 Pitcher of the Week during her first three weeks on the job.

"We expect big things from Whitney," Baylor coach Glenn Moore said. "I'm not going to say she's the savior of the program, but she's a special one, and people are going to see that. She's a power pitcher with the right mentality."

In her second college game, she led the Lady Bears to a 1-0 win over number-one Florida by throwing a three-hitter and collecting ten strikeouts.

After her first fourteen appearances, the powerful left-hander compiled a 10-2 record with a miniscule 1.03 ERA and 117 strikeouts in eighty-one and a third innings. She was the key to the Lady Bears jumping off to a 17-3 start and earning the twenty-fourth ranking in the country.

If Canion had her way, she'd pitch every game for the Lady Bears.

"I just love being out there as much as I can to help the team," Canion said. "If we can score at least one run, that’s okay with me. My top goal is to win the World Series."

During her four seasons at Aledo, she collected an astounding 1,238 strikeouts. She pitched brilliantly as a senior by going 31-0 with an 0.07 ERA and 382 strikeouts. In the Class 4A championship game against Nederland, she endured fifteen innings as she struck out twenty-two batters to lead Aledo to a 4-0 win.

"We had lost in the region finals during my sophomore and junior years, but we got over the hump during my senior year," Canion said. "We had seven seniors who had played a lot of softball together. It was great to realize that we could win the championship."

Canion started pitching when she was ten and developed her skills under pitching coach Ken Graves. Graves had also tutored former Baylor pitchers Lisa Ferguson and Kirsten Shortridge when they were young, and he demanded a lot of his students.

"Coach Graves not only taught you the level that you need to pitch, but also made sure you had the right mentality," Canion said. "By the time I was fourteen or fifteen, I was throwing six days a week. It was definitely what I wanted to do, and it wasn't a chore."

While Canion had great speed from the start, she began adding pitches to her repertoire as she grew older. She came to Baylor with a screwball and riseball, and has since added a drop curve and a straight drop.

It’s obviously working. Just ask all the hitters she's struck out.

"I knew I needed more variety as a college pitcher," Canion said. "The key is to keep the hitters off balance. Now, I've got more spin on my pitches to go along with my speed."