Fresh off a Team USA performance that resulted in Olympic qualification, former Pope softball star Kelly Barnhill will be making a homecoming visit on Friday.
The University of Florida pitching standout will appear at the Greyhounds’ home game on Friday against Sequoyah.
The game starts at 6 p.m. and admission is free. Barnhill will be throwing out the first pitch, meeting fans and signing autographs.
Barnhill, who led Pope to its first Georgia state championship in 2014, was part of the U.S. team that last week repeated as world champions. That resulted in an automatic berth for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
Olympic softball is returning after being dropped in 2008. Barnhill has been a gold medalist for Team USA in the 2016 and now 2018 world championship tournaments.
Here’s what she posted on social media after the Americans’ victory in Japan over the weekend:
Even after softball was taken out of the Olympics after 2008, I refused to give up on my dream of representing my country on the world’s largest stage. Now 10 years later, we are qualified for Tokyo 2020. Dreams do come true! The real work begins now. #RoadtoTokyo2020 https://t.co/MwYX6UWoXa
— Kelly Barnhill (@kkatlyn111) August 14, 2018
She will be a senior at Florida, where she has been an All-American and in 2017 was the national college player of the year.
The Greyhounds, who were playing Cambridge at home on Tuesday, have started the season with a 1-1 record. They also play at Chattahoochee on Thursday before the Friday game honoring Barnhill.
More sports stories
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
