HOSCHTON — The arm winds twice. The neon, red-laced sphere thumps into the glove.
The routine happens at the beginning of each inning to get the arm loose. That’s all junior ace pitcher Caroline Stanton needs. After then, she’s raring to mow the opposing lineup down.
“It starts with my warmup and taking it as if I were in a game,” Stanton said Thursday, after throwing a one-hit shutout in six innings, about her routine which spans before the quick mid-inning reset.
Buford improved to 5-0 on the young season with an 8-0 run-rule victory over region rival at Mill Creek, a prestigious program in its own right. It led fourth-year head coach Trent Adams to classify the victory as “huge.”
Nonetheless, Buford keeps humming along with 44 straight victories. A big reason why the Wolves have surged in every way is the play of Stanton, Along with her pitching, she has hit three home runs on the season including a two home run, seven RBI game in a 19-run outburst at Walnut Grove.
“It’s big to get a little confidence going with these girls,” Adams said. “I feel like it’s growing with each game. We’re not going to win it or lose it now in August or September. We want to peak at the right time.”
Let’s meet Stanton. She’s well-known, after all, and doesn’t need much of an introduction. Stanton starred at Buford throughout her two-plus seasons with the program, has one-plus seasons remaining with numerous scholarship offers on the table from Power Four programs.
Stanton comes from a lineage of athletes. Her mother, Jessica Stanton, played basketball at Rollins College. Her father, Rob Stanton, starred as a baseball and football player at Clemson. Her brother, Jack Stanton, continues his athletic dreams along with Caroline as a football player at Houston Christian University.
“The fact that my family is athletic made me want to get into something. I played multiple sports growing up,” Stanton said before the season began. “From the second I stepped on the field, I knew softball was what I wanted to play.”
Stanton played almost every position as she matured on the diamond. She played some middle infield, then took on a role behind the plate. Stanton admitted that catcher didn’t become her cup of tea. Stanton started pitching a bit, but didn’t become good to her standards until her eighth grade year of middle school.
In an instant, it all clicked for the young pitcher.
Her travel ball coach allowed her to play in an 18U tournament in California, despite being so young in age. Suddenly, she honed in on her craft and found her love in the circle. Stanton works with pitching coaches Laura Rothrock, Cat Osterman and Adrienne Cherry while at Buford — despite those two working outside of the program — to continue working on smaller details of pitching.
“It’s amazing to watch Caroline pitch,” former Buford softball player Tavye Borders said. “Her demeanor is unlike anyone else’s. Her pitching is consistent, powerful and game-changing.”
Stanton, entering the season, finished a sophomore campaign with a 14-0 record, a 0.77 earned run average (ERA) while averaging 12.63 strikeouts per game. Her junior season opened by allowing two runs in the first inning at River Ridge, maybe chalked up to a tight zone.
Since then, Stanton illustrated a picture of pure dominance. She retired 21 consecutive batters after the first inning in the opener. She has allowed one hit in back-to-back scoreless outings against Cambridge and Mill Creek. It shouldn’t be surprising, after all, with Stanton throwing a perfect game and hitting a home run in the same contest as a sophomore.
Buford, nearly every season, has a workhorse ace. It has two of them in Stanton and Addie Rackley. They can “swing it,” too, in the famous words of Adams.
Stanton, however, takes the Wolves to another level. She joins a select group of hurlers for Adams in his 19 years with the program — fourth as the head coach.
If Stanton isn’t somehow known now, it won’t take long to discover her. All one has to do is look for the thump of the glove.
“We’ve had several come through who are special,” Adams said “Caroline is special, that’s for sure.”
