With a rocket for a right arm, junior Heather Hammond has pitched the Nation Ford Lady Falcons into the playoffs.

Nation Ford opens the playoffs Thursday and is the first team in the first year school's history to make it into a post season tournament style playoff.

A lot of that can be contributed to Hammond.

"Heather has been consistent all year," said head coach Michael Kidd. "She is very dedicated to doing her job on the mound."

Hammond enters the playoffs with a 13-2 record with one save and a nearly non-exsistant 1.08 ERA with 100 strikeouts. But more important, she has contributed to eight shutouts and opened the season with a no-hitter in the varsity squad's inaugural game.

But Hammond hasn't always been on the mound. In fact, she normally played in the outfield until this year.

"In the ninth grade I hardly pitched and last year I just pitched in relief," she said.

However, pitching is something Hammond has been working on for years, so when her time came, she shined. Hammond got involved with the sport at age 5 by playing T-ball. She started pitching when she was 9-years-old after watching a game on TV, so she started preparing by taking pitching lessons.

Since then she has crafted her game and says she prefers the mound instead of being in the outfield.

"It's kind of fun to be the center of attention," she said, referring to pitching.

Hammond played JV softball fort Fort Mill in the seventh and eighth grade, and has been on the varsity squad since she was a freshman. The 17-year-old said she wasn't too excited about coming to Nation Ford at first, but quickly rethought it.

"Once we realized who was coming over, it was pretty exciting," she said. "We knew we were going to be good, but none of us realized we would come out and dominate."

And once she arrived, she knew she had a new role on the young team.

"I knew I was going to get a lot more pitching time," Hammond said.

And for the most part the team has dominated, going 16-4 and 10-2 in Region III-AAAA. Its only two region losses have been to Region champs Clover, and its other losses have come against two-time defending North Carolina 4A state champion Butler and Lexington in the Lady Wildcat Invitational.

Hammond said she feels like she had worked her way into a leadership role and hopes she is perceived that way.

"I think I do have a big part of that for this team," she said. "Amanda (Stevens, her catcher) and I both."

But she is quick to give credit where credit is due. Hammond said her success wouldn't be what it is without the players behind her.

"I have a lot of confidence in our defense," she said. "I don't feel like I have to strikeout everyone."

With a solid pitching and defensive performance, Hammond feels like the Lady Falcons can go deep in the playoffs. How deep?

"All the way," she said. "If we all have the will to win and want to be there, we can do it."