Story By Jason Bowen
After successful high school and college softball careers that saw her win championships and individual awards ended in the spring of 2024, Leigha Kirby felt ready to give up the sport
But when the 2025 softball season started, and Kirby realized she wasn’t.
“When I finished, I was like ‘I’m done with softball,’ she said. “Then softball season rolled around again, and I realized I missed it.”
Kirby is getting back in the game, having been named the new head softball coach at Section High School. Her hiring, made official during the June 11 Jackson County Board of Education meeting, also included her being hired as a second-grade teacher at Section.
Kirby taught the previous school year at Richard Hardy Memorial School in South Pittsburg, Tennessee.
Kirby was an all-state pitcher and two-time state champion at Pisgah High School, and was the 2020 Class 3A State Tournament MVP her junior season. Kirby’s senior season was the 2020 COVID-19 short ended season, and she played the 2020 COVID-19 shortened season and the 2021 campaign at Chipola (Florida) Community College before transferring to Wallace State Community College in Hanceville, where she went 19-1 with a 0.91 ERA and had 168 strikeouts in 122 2/3 innings pitched and was named NJCAA second-team All-American, the NJCAA District 22 Pitcher of the Year, the ACCC Pitcher of the Year and was All-ACCC and All-ACCC North while helping Wallace State win in the ACCC championship and advance to the 2022 NJCAA Division I National Championship Tournament.
Kirby then played the next two seasons at UAB, earning second-team All-Conference USA honors. She posted a 14-24 record with three saves in 48 games pitched (39 starts) with 151 strikeouts in 248 1/3 innings and a 2.93 ERA in those two seasons for the Blazers.
Kirby had her first official meeting with her new team last week and was set to get the players started on offseason workouts. Section has struggled of late on the softball diamond — the Lions have not won an area tournament championship since the 2018 and last appeared in the regional tournament in 2019 — but Kirby is determined to get the program up to par with “the other really good teams around here.”
“It’s going to take some building, but I’m excited to start and ready to see that change,” Kirby said. “I want to see the girls want to win and work and fight to (win). I want us to be a gritty team. We’re going to make some big changes.”
