The state’s strikeout queen has committed to UNC.

Mallory Reed, now a junior at Eastern Wayne, has 573 strikeouts through her first two seasons of high school and two appearances on the HighSchoolOT first-team all-state team.

With two seasons left in high school, and already more than halfway to 1,000 career strikeouts, she’s committed to North Carolina.

Reed burst onto the high school softball scene as a freshman two-way player. She hit .639 with 39 hits, 34 RBIs, 12 doubles, and six home runs. In the circle, she had a 0.35 ERA with 306 strikeouts (most in the state) in 120 innings pitched with a .070 opposing batting average.

She was a first-team all-state selection, the only freshman on the 2023 all-state team.

She was one of three sophomores on the all-state first team as a sophomore.

As a sophomore, her hitting numbers dropped to .488 with 20 hits in large part because she was walked 22 times. She still had an OPS (on-base plus slugging) of 1.331. Her pitching numbers were steady, striking out 267 batters in 108 innings with a 0.52 ERA and .080 opposing batting average. She struck out 2.47 batters per inning and her WHIP (walks plus hits per innings pitched) was just 0.34.

Source: highschoolot.com