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SALUQI CORNER: Saluqi lives up to moniker in her journey to Southwest

By Keith Gentry

Saluqi Softball has a pitcher that is not only the best in the conference, but also the nation.  Her journey to Southwest is one of destiny.

Destiny Upton

Destiny Upton

Scoop asked Lady Saluqi Softball Head Coach Keith Gentry to share some of his stories on recruiting players.  Most people are unaware of the recruitment process, at least from a coach’s perspective. Hearing about how Gentry discovers his recruits not only provided an interesting backdrop of his recruiting methods, it also allowed Scoop to discover the backstory and personal side of Southwest student-athletes.  As they say, “Coach has a story for everything,” and this is one of his favorites.

When it comes to recruiting, Gentry relies on two things – hard work and prayer.  He believes all of his players are answers to his prayers, although some are more obvious than others. “When I’m asked how I get players, I tell people it’s really just that,” said Gentry, now in his 16th season as head coach.

He says there are many ways to find prospective student-athletes, such as attending high school and travel ball games and networking with their coaches. Direct emails from recruits, working with recruiting services, and sometimes just word of mouth are other ways to find that special player. In all of these ways, Gentry says, “I just pray we get the right ones for our program – ones who will work hard on the field and in the classroom, be good teammates and stay out of trouble off the field.”  His expectations for players are simple: stay two years, graduate, and transfer to a four-year college.

A matter of destiny

Going into the summer of 2017, a recruiting need for the 2018-19 season was (as always) pitching. Little did Coach Gentry know that the team would need a pitcher for Spring of 2018. However, after losing a pitcher to grades at the semester, the Lady Saluqis were in urgent need of one. Gentry started making calls including one to Freddie Kirby with Southeastern Athletics, a recruiting service based in Alabama. “Freddie has been a huge help to me over the past few years and I was hoping he knew of a pitcher that was available.”  Kirby told Gentry about Destiny Upton from Montevallo, Alabama, a former client of his who was a 2016 high school graduate who did not play college ball right out of high school.  He tried to contact her, but by the time she got in touch with Gentry, school had already started (in January, 2018) so there wasn’t much he could do. Destiny told him if any other opportunities came up in the future she would be interested.

This is where the story takes a turn. The backstory includes Coach Gentry’s phone (with Destiny’s text message) getting wet in April, 2018. He lost access to all of his text messages. “I got the phone working a few days after we got back from our road trip, but I had already bought a new phone and had forgot about the old text message from Destiny.” In the meantime, Gentry was looking for another pitcher for the 2018-19 season. “From the summer of 2017 through the summer of 2018, I was looking for another pitcher to add to our recruiting class. Four of these prospects visited Southwest, but all decided to sign with a college closer to their home.”

Late in the summer of 2018, Gentry got his old phone out and was looking at old text messages. “I keep up with high school basketball here in Memphis and was actually looking for a message from a coach,” said Gentry. “Then I ran across this text from Destiny Upton from back in January. My initial thought was ‘Wow! I wonder what she’s doing now? I still need a pitcher!’” Gentry attempted to contact Destiny and her father Michael, but had no luck.  A few days later, he received a call from Destiny (who at the time was working in the paint department at a Honda Plant in Alabama). “This was in early July and I knew if this was going to happen, we needed to get things going pretty quickly,” said Gentry. A couple of weeks later Destiny and her dad visited Southwest, she signed her letter of intent while she was on campus, and was registered for the fall semester soon thereafter.

“I grew up with just my dad and my sister,” said Upton. “My dad worked with me every day since I could walk with the intentions of me having a chance at college ball someday. Then my dad got sick and lost his leg all in the same year,” Upton revealed.  Upton said she prayed every day for another chance to step out on the field and demonstrate what the two had worked for all those years. “People would tell me it’s too late, to give up, but I told them you may be right, but I haven’t given up yet. I know something just tells me I still have a chance and then Coach Gentry called me in July, 2018!”

When fall practice started in late August, Gentry didn’t really know for sure what kind of player Destiny would be. “I knew from talking to Freddie that Destiny was a very good high school pitcher, but she hadn’t played in almost two years, so we had to get her back in pitching shape and we had until the next February to do it.”

Upton had her doubts. “At first, I didn’t think it was really happening, but after moving up here and getting closer to my roommates, I knew God had finally answered my prayers! I wasn’t worried about being good enough anymore.” According to Gentry, “Destiny worked really hard throughout the fall and also when we came back in January with our pitching coach, Ashley Allensworth.” When the Lady Saluqis began their season in February, Destiny had a complete game win over Carl Albert Community College in her very first game. “I knew then that Destiny would not only be a good pitcher for us, but, potentially one of our best!” Gentry said.

So far this spring, Destiny has appeared in a team-leading 27 games in the circle, mainly as a relief pitcher. She also leads the Lady Saluqis (at press time) with 76-1/3 innings, a 3.30 earned run average, and six saves, which leads not only the team, but also the Tennessee Community College Athletic Conference and the National Junior College Athletic Association.

“I believe Destiny was led here for a reason and part of that is to achieve her dream of playing college softball,” Gentry said. “She’s a huge part of our success so far this season and there’s no doubt in my mind that having Destiny on our team is an answer to both of our prayers!”