Just over 140 miles northeast of Mobile sits the small town of Brantley, Ala, home of the state's most recent Class 1A fast pitch softball championship team. Aside from 2021, the Brantley High School Bulldogs held the title in 2018, 2016, 2015 and 2014. The correlation of those four championship games? The Wilcox sisters.
Before playing Division I softball at Mississippi State and South Alabama respectively, Alex and Kassidy Wilcox each started playing softball around the age of five. Both advanced their career through a travel team based out of Birmingham, the Thunderbolts. After chasing her older sister through the ranks of local recreational teams and travel squads, Kassidy caught up to Alex as she entered middle school.
"We had an age gap so she was always a year ahead of me, but we finally played together -- mostly in high school -- from when I was in seventh grade until she graduated," Kassidy said.
Between the two of them, the Wilcox name appeared on multiple awards lists and in several newspapers hailing titles such as first-team all-state, Player of the Year, Hitter of the Year and MVP.
The pitcher-catcher duo pushed each other to be better in every way, but especially on the diamond.
"There was obviously a lot of competitiveness between the two of us and a lot of arguing as sisters," Kassidy said. "But we definitely enjoyed it. We pushed each other, but we also pushed each other's buttons to get the best of each other. I definitely loved every minute of playing with her."
During Alex's junior year of high school, she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. A disease typically found in women 63 years or older. Alex's diagnosis was a shock to her family. It is very hard to detect because many of the symptoms – abdominal bloating or swelling, quickly feeling full when eating, weight loss, discomfort in the pelvic area, fatigue, back pain, among others – can be attributed to other more common conditions.
"We were kind of caught off guard. When you think about ovarian cancer or when you read the symptoms as a female, especially an athlete, you think 'Oh wow, I feel this every single day' so with Alex, we didn't catch it because she was just assuming that those symptoms weren't something that unusual," Kassidy said.
Despite the ongoing chemo, radiation and other treatments, Alex kept playing softball and was ranked amongst the Top 50 recruits of the 2017 class by FloSoftball, which Mississippi State noticed. In a recent episode of the athletic department's podcast Dear Ol' State assistant softball coach Tyler Bratton discussed the life and legacy of Alex.
"She was one of the most decorated kids coming out of the recruiting and travel ball scene. This kid was unbelievable. She was the fifth overall recruit in the country and the number one two-way player in the country in terms of being a pitcher and a catcher," Bratton said.
Alex arrived on campus in the fall of 2017 while still undergoing treatments at the local cancer center in Starkville. Bratton described how she would show up to practice bandaged up, with her hair falling out and a sweatshirt on to keep her warm even in the Mississippi heat.
"She hit three home runs that fall," Bratton said. "Three home runs. Going through all of that, all the treatments and everything else, struggling to sleep at night, she comes off the bench and hits a home run."
Throughout her freshman season with the Bulldogs, Alex appeared in eight games with three starts. Her first start being the program's inaugural "No One Fights Alone" contest in her honor featuring teal jerseys, the color representing ovarian cancer. On June 25, 2018 Alex lost her fight to her cancer.
Since then Mississippi State has rebranded its annual February Freeze tournament as "The Snowman" in memory of number eight, and many other program's not only in the Southeastern Conference, but throughout the nation have taken up MSU's and Alex's cause, incorporating many similar events of their own.
This past weekend, the University of South Alabama softball team traveled the 230 miles to Starkville, Miss., to participate in that same tournament, but this time a new Wilcox would take the field at Nusz Park.
"It was great to play in the tournament," Kassidy said. "We always loved to be in the dub column, but it was great to really experience the tournament. Coach [Samantha] Rickets does fabulous job commemorating her and bringing awareness to ovarian cancer. I wish I could have experienced it with her, obviously, but it was something I had to experience in my career at least once."
South Alabama softball head coach Becky Clark explained that participating in the event had already been in the works along with additional ways to bring awareness to the issue.
"Coach Ricketts and I have been working together trying to find a tournament or game that South Alabama could participate in and honor Alex as well as bring visibility to the cause of ovarian cancer," Clark said. "Mississippi State has done such an amazing job of honoring Alex's fight and legacy. I'm glad it worked out for us to be able to attend this past weekend and not just honor Alex and her family, but also bring awareness to such an important issue. We plan on doing an awareness game at home as well and look forward to helping continue the awareness campaign through our own USA Health resources."
The first day of the tournament the team snapped its eight-game skid with a 9-1, five-inning win over Belmont. Over the next two days, the Jags picked up two additional wins, however, it was the moments before South's game against the host Bulldogs on Saturday that was the height of the celebration. LeAnna Wilcox, Alex and Kassidy's mother, threw the first pitch, from the circle where Alex stood, to Kassidy, who was in her position behind the plate.
"Alex was a combination of grace and grit. To endure what she went through at her age and do it with a smile on her face and an uplifting attitude is the reason everyone still celebrates her today," Clark said. "In sports, we always talk about mentality and Alex had the ultimate mind-set. The definition of success is making the most of the situation or circumstances you are given and Alex worked hard every day to do that despite the battle she was facing. She left an example for all of us of what it is supposed to look like when the odds are against you. I applaud Mississippi State for continuing to honor her legacy and the life lessons she left for all of us. I'm just glad we could be a small part of that this past weekend."
No need to worry Alex, because Kassidy and the rest of the softball community has got your back and will continue to champion your cause, because "No One Fights Alone."
More information on the "No One Fights Alone" campaign can be found at the organization's web site, https://nofa.life/.
