SUFFOLK — In the original “Bad News Bears” movie, Bears manager Morris Buttermaker yells at an opposing coach in amazement for attempting to intentionally walk his best hitter with the bases loaded.
That happens in real life, too. Just ask Nansemond River softball star Cammie Stuffel.
Among the eight intentional walks Stuffel drew this year, two came with the bases loaded. Then again, Stuffel was such a relentlessly great hitter in 2023, who can blame those coaches for surrendering a run by walking her rather than risking her slugging in three or four?
Among the 47 hits Stuffel, a Nansemond River junior, had in this season, 18 were home runs. That’s more than any softball player in Virginia High School League history, so Stuffel’s selection as All-Tidewater Softball Player of the Year is unanimous among every coach to voice an opinion on the matter.
That she did it playing in the Southeastern District, considered among the best in the state at any level, makes it all the more impressive Hickory coach Shane Smith says.
“I haven’t seen anyone who hits the ball as consistently hard as she does,” said Smith, whose team reached the Class 5 state final, one step better than state semifinalist Nansemond River. “You might see a kid hit the ball hard twice in the game, but if she gets up four times she can square it up every time.
“The big thing is that she can hit any style of pitcher — a fastball pitcher throwing 60 mph or a changeup pitcher throwing 50 — and she can hit any pitch.”
Indeed, Stuffel’s catalog of statistics beyond those 18 home runs, are evidence. She hit for a .635 average, walked 13 times, scored 39 runs, and had a 1.541 slugging percentage while striking out just three times in 78 at-bats to earn Class 5 State Player of the Year honors.
Unquestionably, homer No. 18 — which came in the Warriors’ 10-6 win over Granby in the Class 5 Region B championship game — was the big moment.
“My goal was to hit 10 home runs, but, when I got to 10 and saw the state record was 18, that became my goal,” Stuffel said. “I was excited to get it because I’ve worked so hard to become good enough to get it.”
The work began almost from birth for Stuffel, who grew up on the baseball and softball fields at Nansemond River. Her father, Mark Stuffel, was the longtime baseball coach at the school before retiring a year ago, guiding the Warriors to to numerous state tournaments and to the 2016 Class 5 state title.
She says she learned the work ethic its takes to succeed as a little girl from watching Warriors’ star Brandon Lowe — now an All-Star infielder with the Tampa Bay Rays — who was occasionally her babysitter. She adds that older brother Ayden Stuffel, the leading hitter as a freshman this season for Christopher Newport University’s No. 10-ranked baseball team, influenced her more than anyone else on the finer technical aspects of hitting and fielding.
“I’ve never said that out loud before now,” she says with a laugh because the Stuffels are a competitive bunch.
She laughs also at boasting she now can regularly outdrive her dad on the golf course, thanks to work on the weights. More humbly, she credits her dad for teaching her the mental aspects of hitting and for his advice to focus on getting her entire body into a swing.
All of that expertise, and two years as softball team manager, contributed to Stuffel’s instant success when she suited up for the Warriors in 2021 as a freshman. Her walkoff RBI double in the bottom of the eighth inning off of Gatorade State Player of the Year Emerson Aiken, a Michigan recruit, gave the Warriors a 1-0 win over Glen Allen in the Class 5 state semifinals.
Three days later the Warriors beat Freedom of Riding 2-0 to win the state title in front of a humongous crowd at Nansemond River. The finish led to a Jim Valvano-type celebration between Stuffel and Warriors’ coach Gabe Rogers.
“I guess I was the first person he could find because he gave me a big bear hug,” Stuffel said. “He said `I’m so happy I didn’t know whether to hug someone or throw someone.’
“‘I’m glad he didn’t throw me.’”
No, Rogers waited until that Granby game in the region final this season to throw her — as a starting pitcher. Warriors ace Cierra Gawryluk was ill that afternoon, and unable to pitch, so Rogers turned to Stuffel, normally a sure-handed shortstop, to shut down what is arguably the most talented batting order in Hampton Roads.
“He told me not to worry about being a pitcher, to just go out, be an athlete and do the best I could,” she said.
Stuffel, a UNC Wilmington recruit who had pitched only three innings all season, went six innings in the circle and led the Warriors to victory. She helped her own cause with home run No. 18 that afternoon because Granby pitched to her.
Not everyone did, those two coaches who intentionally walked her with the bases loaded the most glaring examples.
“The fact that they walked me with the bases loaded gives me confidence and made me feel really good,” Stuffel said. “It makes me feel like I’ve become the player I always wanted to be.”
All-Tidewater Softball Players of the Year
2022 – Madison Inscoe, Nansemond-Suffolk
2021 – Madison Inscoe, Nansemond-Suffolk
2020 – Season was canceled because of the pandemic
2019 – Brook Cannon, Kellam
2018 – Morgan Murphy, Grassfield
2017 – Hanna Crist, Princess Anne
2016 – Meaghan Barfield, First Colonial
2015 – Meaghan Barfield, First Colonial
2014 – Sydney Harless, Great Bridge
2013 – Kayla Harris, Greenbrier Christian
2012 – Kristen Lewis, Hickory
2011 – Amber Phillips, Hickory
2010 – Sami Mignat, Ocean Lakes
2009 – Kaitlynn Szczepanski, Great Bridge
2008 – Jennifer Gniadek, Hickory
2007 – Stephanie Kemp, Kellam
2006 – Catelyn Slagle, Greenbrier Christian
2005 – Mallory Mazur, Kempsville
2004 – Mallory Mazur, Kempsville
2003 – Amber Shifflett, Princess Anne
2002 – Amber Straube, Princess Anne
2001 – Ashley Loeback, Princess Anne
2000 – Ginny Fletcher, Great Bridge
1999 – Ginny Fletcher, Great Bridge
1998 – Melissa Hirsch, Princess Anne
1997 – Melissa Hirsch, Princess Anne
1996 – Lisa Slingerland, Princess Anne
1995 – Donna Self, Booker T. Washington
1994 – Amy Hooks, Bayside
1993 – Amy Hooks, Bayside
