By Mike London
mike.london@salisburypost.com

CHINA GROVE — The cookies and cupcakes disappeared quickly from Tuesday’s party in the Carson media center.

A lot of hungry Carson folks came to watch softball star Landry Stewart sign with the USC Upstate Spartans.

“Well, the baseball team was here and the softball team and a lot of friends and family,” Stewart said. “I actually signed the papers a few days ago, but we still wanted to celebrate.”

Division I signings don’t take place every day. What makes Stewart special is her wheels. Her speed sets her apart, offensively and defensively.

She can go get it and likely will be a center fielder in college.

“She’s a tough competitor and she’s just so fast,” Carson coach Charissa Duncan said. “She’s not afraid to dive, she tracks fly balls well and she’s got the arm strength, so she can be exceptional in the outfield.”

Home runs are nice, but there are times when a pitcher is so tough you have to work to manufacture a run, and Stewart can get you that run. She’s a high-level slapper, and if she can put the ball on the ground, she’s going to safe at first base. There’s not much you can do about it. That’s how she batted .500 as a junior for the Cougars.

That’s right … .500.

She got started in softball around age 7. Not just fooling around in the backyard —  competitive, travel softball. Her first coach and her coach during her early years was her grandfather Lex Graham, who coached A.L. Brown boys basketball back in the day. Her father, Shane Stewart, is a well-known softball coach for area travel teams.

Landry usually was the catcher growing up because catchers are the hardest thing to find.

At China Grove Middle School,  they didn’t have a shortstop, so that became her new home. That’s when her speed became more noticeable.

“That’s when things started to take off,” Stewart said.

It was about 4 1/2 years ago that she really fell in love with softball. Her older sister, Rylie, was the star pitcher for Carson, and in the spring of 2018, the Cougars got on a roll and made it to the Final Four in 3A.

“It was so much fun watching that team play and watching Rylie pitch,” Stewart said. “That was the spring I decided I wanted to be a softball player and I dreamed I’d be good enough to play the game in college.”

She won a starting job for the Cougars as a freshman, but that was the season COVID halted in March. Stewart only got to play six games.

But she made the life-changing transition from right-handed swinger to lefty slapper.

“My dad said I needed to make up my mind and flip to slapping if I wanted to play in college,” Stewart said. “My speed would be a lot bigger factor as a slapper. It took some lessons and a lot of work.There were some rocky roads ahead of me, but eventually slapping became very natural for me.”

As a sophomore, she got to play about half of a normal high school season after COVID delayed the start.

For all of the good softball players in the county who are now seniors, COVID was a factor in their lives. They didn’t get to put up huge career numbers or set records with one aborted season and one half-season, but they’ve made the best of it.

Stewart worked hard to get herself recruited in the summer of 2021, between her sophomore and junior years of high school. In addition to travel softball, she attended a series of camps.

“I went to a camp at just about every school I was interested in going to,” Stewart said. “USC Aiken, Mars Hill, Erskine, Lander and USC Upstate. USC Upstate was the one I liked best as far as the coaches and as far as the school. It was exciting when they started recruiting me.”

She committed verbally in early September 2021. Now she’s finally gotten to sign. She never came close to changing her mind. She’s the second Carson Cougar to sign with USC Upstate. Liza Simmerson signed two years ago.

In Stewart, USC Upstate is probably getting an even better player than the Spartans anticipated 14 months ago.

Stewart finally got to play a full season last spring and was fantastic as a junior, one of the county’s top five players. Besides the .500 batting average, she had 41 hits, 35 runs, 19 RBIs and 19 steals in 26 games. She had two triples and three doubles, so she’s not just getting infield hits.

“I’m working on harder slaps, hitting the ball through the infield and I’ve hit a some balls over the heads of outfielders, so maybe I’ll get an inside-the-park homer one day,” Stewart said. “My best game last season was against East Rowan. I got a lot of RBIs and I don’t get many chances for RBIs.”

Stewart is batting .430 for her high school career with 54 runs scored and 42 steals in just 47 career games. Her senior season figures to be her best one.

She got warmed up by taking charge of Carson’s powder puff football game. She ran to daylight, and it’s not like anyone was going to catch her.

“The seniors got some redemption for last year,” Stewart said with a laugh. “We made the juniors look pretty bad.”

Stewart’s long-term plan is a P.E. major at USC Upstate. She’s looking forward to a teaching career.

And coaching softball. That runs in the family.