Allison Frye, on a rainy Friday morning in the girls’ gym at Pineville High School, was reflecting on her softball team’s LHSAA Division I Select state championship the previous weekend. It was the school’s eighth state softball championship but the first since capping a threepeat in 1998.

It was glorious, achieved with utter dominance, outscoring four playoff foes 52-5, run-ruling all four and scoring at least 12 runs in each game. The Lady Rebels, who were runners-up in District 2-5A to West Monroe, finished the season 29-9, closing with a 12-game winning streak.

Frye had been an all-star infielder at Pineville High School 20 years ago, and she has been the Lady Rebels head coach since 2018. She understandably felt the satisfaction of guiding her alma mater to a state title she never enjoyed while she had been a three-time all-state infielder and the district MVP as a senior in 2006.

She had nothing but plaudits for her players, but she said, “They don’t understand how big a deal and how hard it is to win a state championship,” she said. “I don’t think they understand how much it means to our town, our community and our past players, but one day they will.”

Just as a state title eluded Frye during her playing time at Pineville, she missed enjoying a national title at Louisiana Christian University, then Louisiana College. The bar had been set for such softball excellence since coach Tim Whitman led the Lady Wildcats to the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) softball championship in 2003.

Although Frye enjoyed multiple all-conference honors in the American Southwest Conference from 2007 through 2010 and was the league’s defensive player of the year as a freshman second baseman in ’07, the closest she and her teammates got to a national title was third place at the NCCAA World Series in ‘08.

“State champ” is a term that’s been in the Frye family for decades. Frye’s father, Steve, a retired cable company veteran, played football and baseball at St. Mary’s High School in Natchitoches, and he was a left guard and linebacker for the Tigers’ Class A state championship football team in 1977. Her mother Kim, a retired hygienist, encouraged her to take dancing lessons early in life but she soon switched to softball, and it was as good a match as eggs to bacon.

She was playing travel ball on a 12-under team, which was rare at that time. “I was the only kid in Pineville my age that played on the team,” she said. “Now, there are so many that play, even on the 8-and-under teams.”

Ever the epitome of an unselfish team player, Allison willingly volunteered to play the outfield her final two seasons at LCU after years as a middle infield wizard.  And she said she received the “Coaches Award” more than once in recognition for her sacrificing for the team.

“I was a little uncomfortable in the outfield at first, but I understood that was best for the team,” she said. “I didn’t think the ‘Coaches Award’ was too highly regarded at the time, but now I know, and I give Coaches Awards, and I make it a big deal to my kids. Being coachable is one of the most important things an athlete can have.”

Although this year’s PHS softball season finished strong, there was a rough stretch when the Lady Rebels lost four in a row, to West Monroe (7-4), Ruston (5-4), Walker (8-6) and French Settlement (2-0).

“That was the lowest point of our season,” Frye said. “We were having some  internal issues and trying to really find ourselves as a team and create an identity and get everyone on board. Our vibe was a little down … but I told ’em our record does not matter, as long as we get past those losses and make adjustments, we’ll be where we need to be at the end of the season.

“And to their credit, this team never got too high or too low,” she continued. “They are not emotional players on the field. They don’t get down on themselves too much. They can quickly adjust and get over mistakes, and for high school girls, especially, that’s important and has had a lot to do with our success.”

Frye enjoyed earlier success as a softball coach at Menard, leading the Lady Eagles to the Class 2A a state title in 2015, her first year there as head coach. She also coached them to state runner-up finishes in 2106 and 2018. Jensen Howell, who later helped LSUE win the NCAA Division II softball championship in 2019, was a sophomore star pitcher in Menard’s title run, and she was the Gatorade National Player of the Year as a junior. She finished her prep career with more than 1,000 strikeouts.

Another former star pitcher for Frye at Menard, Kayla Busby, whose attempts to play college softball at Louisiana-Lafayette and LCU were thwarted by back surgery, and later had a bout with jaw cancer, is now Frye’s top assistant coach at Pineville.  

Although Frye said her team wasn’t emotional on the field, the Lady Rebels rightly enjoyed an emotional celebration after senior Ava Moore belted a grand-slam to give Pineville a run-rule 12-1 victory over John Curtis at Sulphur’s North Frasch Park for the state crown. Moore, 2-for-4 with 6 RBIs in the contest, was named the tournament’s Division I outstanding player.

Her turn in the spotlight, as a senior after three years mostly on the bench, was most deserved, said Frye.

“She’s one of those mature ballplayers that respect the game and the program and is extremely coachable,” said Frye. “She stayed the course. She’s never been the ‘star,’ but you wouldn’t know it to see the attitude she has every day. She can help instill in the younger players the culture and standard of Pineville softball.

“It shows younger kids,” she continued, “if you can trust the process and stay the course, that your time will come.”

Just as Allison Frye’s time, after much patience, finally came to be part of a championship team at her alma mater.