Bella Mayfield
My summer vacation filled with travel softball
HARVEST – With schools back in session, much of the conversations between students and with students and their teachers center around “what I did on my summer vacation.” Sparkman High’s Bella Mayfield’s summer tales include how she used her summer break to try and better her position within the world of high school softball by traveling thousands of miles with her bat and glove, with parents and friends and the extraordinary passion to sharpen her elite skills she already possesses for her future endeavors in high school athletics.
Coming off an All-State Second- Team performance as a sophomore, with a .442 batting average, 61 hits and 26 stolen bases at Sparkman where the Lady Senators landed in the State Final Four, Mayfield is turning heads unlike what’s been seen among the Class 7A program in years. College programs are already expressing high anxiety over unofficial approaching her about her talents as an infielder and left-handed batting wizard. Her summer vacation was spent showcasing her talents as part of the Alabama Sparks Elite travel team hitting the highways for games against other elite players with similar aspirations.
“Our team featured girls who all were good and play certain roles and were all equal as a team,” said Mayfield, the daughter of Jared and Debbie Mayfield. “I’m best at defense playing third base and putting down bunts as I work at that part of my game.”
With the Sparks Elite and traveling with her parents to locales across the Southeast, playing in many times four-day tournaments, Mayfield has shown she belongs among the elite section of the sport with her bat, glove and speed. Her fastest time in the 60-foot sprint from home plate to first base is 2.8 seconds. That raw speed, Mayfield said, “Keeps the defense on their toes as I read the defense of where they are lining up, and if they playing in, I try and hit over their heads.” She added on her style of play, “I’m very loud, I dive all over to try and catch the ball. On the base paths, I’m always sliding mostly head first. I get very dirty.”
Her dive into the sport began at age six in recreational leagues before taking the step into travel softball two years later. She played soccer and other sports, but, “Those sports did not have the same energy nor was as much fun as softball, and I love the team aspect of softball, too,” said Mayfield, who added, “I always put 100-percent into my game and have worked hard every single day.”
Today, she has not slowed down in her work ethic as she goes to practice at the hitting machines of D-BAT, the indoor hitting facility in Northwest Huntsville. Her membership allows her to face machine pitching which is designed to throw pitches that have lots of movement. She also hits off a hitting tee at the school’s facilities and works on her glove skills by bouncing ball off a wall. She even uses a hitting mat and net that have been erected in her backyard. “I love keeping little things in my workouts very consistent. As for my start in the sport, I learned a lot of my mechanics in the sport by joining the travel program and by the seventh grade I noticed I was pretty good.”
The 16-year old Mayfield is perfectly built for her position in softball, as she’s 5-foot-4 and weighs just 125 pounds. Her size gives her plenty of strength with a strong arm at the corner position on the diamond and her weight is just right for allowing her to have that blazing speed, which helps her stand apart from her opponents.
Mayfield is now into high gear with her second sport of volleyball. On the Sparkman team since her seventh grade, the two-year starter played outside hitter last year but is now a defender this year in a similar role as in softball.
“I was in dance for eight years, ages two to nine,” added Mayfield.
Her time away from both the softball field and volleyball court includes working the concession stand at the Monrovia Community Center located at Phillips Park, being a member of the National Honor Society with her 4.0 grade point average and attending church service at Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints of Huntsville.
Mayfield has an older sister, Taylor, 18, while her younger sister, Quinn, 13, plays softball at Monrovia Middle School.
This year’s travels were not as extensive as 2024 as last year she and her softball travels took her to other states across the country including Georgia, Oklahoma, Colorado and Texas. But the travels combined has bolstered her position in softball and college softball programs are very much interested in her talents while Mayfield would love to enter nursing school to become a registered nurse as a profession. She hopes her softball talents will enable her to attend the college of her choice, play outstanding collegiate softball and earn her college degree, all along looking back at her 2025 summer vacation.
