LOVE and BALL
Meet the South Caldwell couple that experienced a rare dual achievement together
Mallory Winebarger and Jacob Perkins celebrate winning the 6A West Region baseball and softball championships on May 19.
Mallory Winebarger and Jacob Perkins after a T-ball game when they were 6 years old.
Jacob Perkins and Mallory Winebarger celebrate winning the 6A West Region baseball and softball championships on May 19.
South Caldwell pitcher Jacob Perkins throws in a game against Hickory on March 1 in Hickory.
South Caldwell's Mallory Winebarger gets a two-RBI single during the game against Kings Mountain on May 19 in the 6A regional state softball championship.
On May 19, South Caldwell High School juniors Mallory Wine-barger and Jacob Perkins got to do something special for a young couple.
South Caldwell won both the 6A West Region softball and baseball championships that night. Winebarger, the softball team's shortstop, and Perkins, a pitcher on the baseball team, celebrated qualifying for the state championship series together.
Schools have sent both the baseball and softball teams to the state title series in the same year before, but it has never been done with both teams winning at home on the same night.
After beating Kings Mountain on the softball field, Winebarger and her teammates dumped their equipment in the dugout and sprinted over to the baseball field just in time to watch South Caldwell put the finishing touches on their win over Alexander Central. Perkins and Winebarger found each other and celebrated the accomplishment together with the rest of their teammates, coaches and friends.
"It is something we'll always look back on," Winebarger said. "It doesn't really matter about being the first or whatever, it's just something that we share that not many people do, so it will always be special."
"It kind of overwhelmed me a little bit seeing we had done that at the same time," Perkins said. "Just being able to have that memory that I'm there and I'm waiting for the coaches to get done talking so I can go right over there and hug her so we can share that memory together. ... I went straight and found her, and all our friends are like, 'Aww.' That memory of getting to see her right after the game is something I'll remember forever."
Hit or miss
Winebarger and Perkins started dating during their freshman year of high school, but their connection goes back further than that. They played T-ball together at 6 years old.
"It was T-ball," Winebarger said. "And then we separated for a little bit because after we went separate ways because we played different sports, and then we would meet at some church camps that we went to with friends."
Perkins said he and Winebarger were in each other's orbits until they started high school.
"Here and there, we would say 'Hi' to each other or maybe bring up something that happened at a game," he said. "But we really started getting close freshman year."
Love and baseball (and softball)
Winebarger played just about every sport she could when she was younger. She said softball was the one that appealed to her the most. It helped that she was starting to get good at it, too.
Perkins' journey with baseball was similar. He said his father coached their T-ball team and the competition of baseball appealed to him.
"When I was younger, I was one of the better ones," he said. "So, I hung around that sport because I thought, 'Hey, I'm kind of good at it, so I might as well stay here'."
He said it really began to take off for him during his freshman year of high school.
"I started getting some closer opportunities," he said. "I started realizing the coaches are seeing me as a key role on this team. I think I have gone up a step from what I have been."
For Winebarger, it was the next year when she became the softball team's starting third baseman.
"My sophomore year, I got to play," she said. "I was third base that year, and actually being OK at that because I hadn't played that since 8U. ... So realizing that I could be good at it and also playing shortstop, I started thinking, 'Well, maybe'."
The invitation
Perkins and Winebarger started reconnecting early in ninth grade. "We started going to each other's sports and started talking after the games," Winebarger said.
Then her dad's grilling skills pushed things over the edge.
"We really like steaks in our family, like really, really like steaks," she said. "So, once or twice a week, he will cook anything, not just steaks. I also have a pool now, so he'd come over and swim a lot. And over the course of the three years, just with different hangouts, we grew closer together and realized that maybe we have something here."
Both Perkins and Winebarger said they became best friends long before they started officially dating. They think that gives them an advantage over other young couples.
"That and getting to go to church with each other," Perkins said. "Having those kinds of memories to look back on is also another key factor."
The balancing act
Working toward their goals of playing in college means Perkins and Winebarger have a lot more to their relationship than just alone time. They said training is a big part of their individual lives, but it's not something they get to do together that often.
"I feel like we're there to work," Perkins said.
Winebarger agreed, saying that despite the similarities, softball and baseball are actually different sports. She said their main role is to support each other, not so much working together on training.
With senior year coming up, both Winebarger and Perkins know college is likely going to move them in different directions. But they are confident about their future together because both are committed to staying connected to family, their community and each other.
"We definitely both want to stay close to home, not just for each other but also because of our families," Perkins said. "We're still going to call each other throughout the day and check in on each other and probably have weekends here and there when we see each other or go swim at the pool."
Becoming a better person
From Perkins' perspective, being in a relationship with Winebarger is making him a better man. He said having a girlfriend who has her own bright athletic future in front of her means he has had to learn that she can't always come to his games and support him. And sometimes he needs to be the one who is her biggest cheerleader.
"It has also helped to realize that she's got something to do, and I have to give her space to go do that," Perkins said. "I'm not going to say, 'I don't want you to do that because I want to see you'."
That came into play as the two teams left for the state championships back in May. The softball team left Hudson about two hours before the baseball team. So, Perkins was there to send his girlfriend off, but when it came time for him to leave, Winebarger was already halfway to Durham. She said she stayed up late that night watching his game online.
Perkins loves that Winebarger has her own life, her own responsibilities and her own accomplishments. It's a dynamic he wouldn't dream of changing even if he could.
"I understand that she needs time," he said. "I'm not going to try to force her to do things she doesn't want to do."
Jason Koon is the Sports Editor for the Hickory Record and can be reached at jason.koon@lee.net.
