WINCHESTER — As several preteen girls watched Brynnen Williams smoke deep line drive after line drive for a photo shoot during a break in the James Wood High School softball camp on June 24, one of them repeated the phrase, “That’s a home run in our park.”
Outside of a prolific day against Kettle Run this year, home runs aren’t really part of Williams’ arsenal. But pretty much every pitcher the Colonels faced this year knew silencing those screaming shots from Williams would be a tall task this year — they just had to hope the balls that came off her bat found a fielder’s glove.
James Wood junior shortstop Brynnen Williams is The Winchester Star Softball Player of the Year after a season that was more impressive than last year, when she set the school single-season record for batting average (.541).
A commit to NCAA Division I Eastern Kentucky University, Williams had 43 hits in 82 at-bats to again lead the area in batting average (.524, 79 points higher than the runner-up). She repeated as the area on-base percentage champion (.571, 71 points higher than anyone else). She led the area in runs (32, two more than anyone else). A First Team All-Region 4D and Northwestern District selection, Williams had at least one hit in all but one of James Wood’s 23 games, and in 20 of 23 games she had at least one hit, one run or one RBI.
Williams’ RBI total truly stood out. Even though she batted from the leadoff position, she drove in more than twice as many runs as last year to rank second in the area with 29.
“Right away [as a freshman], I knew she was special,” James Wood coach Patrick Gibson said. “Her work ethic is excellent. I told her when she made the team after tryouts her freshman year that she was the future of this program, and she’s proved to be that.”
Williams has been committed to being the best she can be from the start of her career.
Though her mother and father played several sports growing up, Williams is the first in her family to take on softball. She started swinging a bat at age 5 and quickly showed a knack for the game. She said she was playing on an 8-and-under travel team when was 6 or 7.
Williams has played for five travel teams over the years. She’s currently in her second stint with the Tri-State Thunder based in Hagerstown, Maryland, rejoining them her freshman year. She also puts in time away from the diamond. She’s worked out at places like Winchester Boxing, PRO Motion and FASST Training. Williams said she’ll go to the gym almost every day during the winter and three to four times a week during the summer. Gibson said Williams shows up to every James Wood offseason workout.
Before rejoining Tri-State, she played in seventh and eighth grade with a team three hours away in southern New Jersey while she was being home-schooled. Williams’ parents would drive her there Friday night and she would practice or compete on Saturdays and Sundays before coming back.
“It was a great experience,” Williams said. “It was a a big change when you’e used to seeing familiar faces. But branching out and meeting a lot of new people, it’s helped me build a lot of softball relationships. We’ll go back up to New Jersey for a tournament, and I’ll see all these familiar faces. You’re really just one big family.”
In that regard, Williams’ family hails from all over the country. In December, Williams participated in the USA Softball National Selection Event for 15-18-year-old players. Williams has several experiences with Team USA, including playing with an Under-12 region team in Oklahoma that placed fourth in a competition.
“Ever since I put on a USA jersey, I’ve always felt [softball] was what I was born to do,” Williams said.
The softball families Williams is closest to now are the ones at James Wood and the Tri-State Thunder.
Williams said the Thunder actually rekindled her love for softball by giving her the family-type feeling she wanted. She said when she was playing for a 12U team in Loudoun County, she was having a bad experience and was thinking about quitting softball altogether.
“Having the support and positive attitude toward me was what I needed [from the Thunder],” Williams said.
Because Williams was home-schooled, she didn’t really know anyone on the team as one of two varsity freshmen for James Wood in 2023. She said she didn’t want to step on any toes as she attempted to earn time at a new position for her in third base — playing there was her best chance at playing time.
She established a relationship with the other player, a senior, who was competing at third base, because she wanted her to know friendship and supporting each other was important for the team dynamic.
“I wanted us to succeed, and I wanted to see the seniors have a great final season,” Williams said. “I just knew I had a role to play in helping us succeed.”
Patrick said the Colonels took a small-ball approach with Williams that year — the left-handed hitter slapped the ball more then, and James Wood had her bunt a lot. As the team’s No. 9 hitter, Williams hit .310 (18 for 58) with 28 runs, 10 stolen bases and a .431 OBP to help James Wood clinch its first state tournament berth in program history and finish 22-3 overall.
Williams’ defense helped the Colonels win their first-ever region title, catching a line drive and throwing to first for a double play in the seventh inning against Tuscarora in a 5-3 win. A longtime assistant who was in his first year as head coach in 2023, Gibson calls it one of the best defensive plays in James Wood history.
Williams’ freshman year offensive numbers were strong, but Williams took a major leap as a sophomore. Williams said in between seasons, she did drills at FASST that were designed to help with swing explosiveness. And she spent countless hours at James Wood’s Ridge Field with various people in the local softball community both hitting and fielding.
Williams was moved up to second in the order and helped the Colonels return to the state tournament in a 19-5 season. In addition to leading the area in batting average, she led in OBP (.611), ranked third in runs (31), had 14 RBIs and was named Second Team All-Region and First Team All-District. In the Region 4D semifinal game against Sherando that clinched a state berth, Williams drew a two-out walk to load the base in the bottom of the seventh, and Aliza Judd followed with a two-run single for a 4-3 win.
“She hit the good pitching well,” said Gibson of her sophomore year. “It wasn’t like she feasted off the lower-level pitching. She hit all the pitching well.”
Growing up Williams played second base and outfield, but finally settled on shortstop for U14 play. The last two years, Williams has been James Wood’s starting shortstop. Williams likes the responsibility that comes with the position, and she’s learned a lot about it from watching college softball over the years. Her softball IQ helps her make quick decisions whether the ball is hit to her or one of her teammates, and she feels comfortable playing shortstop.
“She has range,” Gibson said. “She can do it all. She can come in on the ball. She can go get the popup in the hole. She covers second well on steal attempts. You always want your team strong up the middle, and she provides that. She’s sure-handed, hardly ever makes a bad throw, makes good decisions, and is a leader on the field. All the qualities you’re looking for in a shortstop, she has them.”
Williams feels like defense is the backbone of her game.
“If I’m having an off day offensively, then I feel like my defense needs to make up for it,” she said.
For her junior season, Williams spent more time focusing on building strength to help her offensive game and set the table for the Colonels as the leadoff hitter.
“Patrick told me my main job was to set the tone,” Williams said. “I trust my teammates enough that they’e going to get these runs in and we’re going to do what we need to do.”
Williams was plenty responsible for bringing in runs for James Wood herself — she led the area in RBIs until teammate Kayleigh Harden drove in six during the playoffs.
Williams’ most prolfic RBI day came at home on March 26 against Kettle Run, when she went 4 for 4 with four runs and seven RBIs as a result of a grand slam in the second inning and a three-run home run in the third inning. Arcie Harvey, an assistant coach with Tri-State Thunder, also happened to be in attendance.
Until that day, Williams had never hit a home run at any level of softball.
“I’m normally a gap hitter,” Williams said. “It’s not one person who’s going to win a game, so if I can put a ball in a gap, that’s going to set us up for a bigger position than me aiming for a fence and popping up.
“[Before the grand slam], I was just like, ‘I’m going to swing hard and find a gap. As soon as I felt my contact position, I was like, ‘That ball’s going.’ My parents do the press box annoucements, so to hear them yelling and cheering, and hear Arcie, and to hear all my teammates rooting me on … when I rounded third I saw everybody standing there [near the plate], and I was grinning from ear to ear. It was one of the best feelings I’ve ever had.”
Williams had 13 games with multiple hits, eight with multilple runs and seven with multiple RBIs.
“We wanted to give her as many at-bats as possible,” Gibson said. “She sets the table for our offense.”
Even though Williams added to her stat total all season — the second game of the season against Clarke County was the only game in which she didn’t have a hit — she doesn’t pay attention to them during the year.
“How we were doing as team was what mattered to me,” Williams said.
A Colonels team with just two seniors went 16-7 this year and nearly earned its third straight state berth. Millbrook beat James Wood 6-5 in nine innings in the Region 4D semifinals to advance to states instead. Given the team’s youth, Williams was proud of how the team performed.
In between her sophomore and junior seasons for James Wood, Wiliams made a verbal commitment to Eastern Kentucky, located in Richmond, Kentucky, in October of 2024. Williams said she made a strong connection with Sarah Rainwater, EKU’s director of softball operations, and she’s excited about the agriculture program at the school. She noted there’s a 1,000-acre farm at the university, and with her background with animals, hunting and fishing, the school feels like home.
Until she goes there, Williams plans on making one big final splash at her current home. Williams wants to end her career with a state tournament berth.
“I’m really hoping we make it back,” she said. “I’m hoping to make it three times in my four years here.”
— Contact Robert Niedzwiecki at rniedzwiecki@winchesterstar.com
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