Looking at Gretta Lewis from strictly a numbers standpoint would make any outsider think the recently graduated Cottonwood senior softball player was nobody special. 

Those that know, however, would say you should know Gretta. Lewis was the pin in a grenade that was her at the pitching circle. 

Once Lewis got rolling, the 5-foot-6-inch, 135-pound righthander unleashed fury from that spot in the chalky dirt. Madison College witnessed it. Lewis committed to the school located in Wisconsin’s capital city April 15. 

Lewis flipped the script in Las Vegas at the Best of the Best Tournament this past January for her 18U Fire Dragons club team, aptly named for a right-handed redhead releasing fireballs from her hand. 

Lewis continued doing that for the Cottonwood Colts softball squad this spring, befuddling batters with a 50-mile-per-hour changeup—particularly after she threw heat. 

And yet that’s not all that she was. An avid skier and mountain biker, Lewis could probably play Schubert’s “Ave Maria” on violin if asked. 

It wasn’t until the ninth grade that she started taking the game of softball seriously; something in the way one could torque their arm a certain direction and hurtle a white ball grabbed hold—and didn’t let go until Lewis was hurtling a fastball at 62 miles per hour as a senior. 

Wearing her No. 20 jersey, it was 15 numbers higher than the No. 5 Lewis wore as a Cottonwood freshman. 

It was safe to say that Lewis had grown up in more ways than one; as a freshman and sophomore, her earned run average hovered around 30 and she coughed up roughly 200 runs each season, as the Colts got dressed early in most of their games. 

Lewis kept on working, though. 

In her sophomore season, Lewis attended a softball pitching camp at Salt Lake Community College for the first time, learning more about her craft in November 2022. By April 2023, Lewis was taking private pitching lessons once a week—in addition to a class once a month. 

Something started clicking. Her Fire Dragons club team played in the losers’ bracket at the High School Fall Ball League from August to October 2023 and yet were the ones that emerged as winners. Later that October, Lewis attended a national college showcase camp for the first time, displaying all the hard work she’d put in. 

Other student-athletes might have stopped there and trimmed their workloads—Lewis did not. She attended another pitching camp, this time at SLCC every Monday night in January 2024. 

As a Cottonwood junior, Lewis’ strikeouts surged from 23 to 73; her ERA dropped by more than half, to 14.49. She allowed fewer hits (140) and walks (66). 

Having completed her junior year, Lewis headed to two national pitchers’ camps: a diamond training camp prior to the USSSA Rocky Mountain Western Nationals on June 17 and another the following week, June 24, at a camp for high school juniors entering their senior year. 

That June, Lewis was also honored with her first First Team All-Region award as a high school pitcher in a stacked Class 4A Region 10. 

Gretta had several pitches in her arsenal, including a nasty changeup that probably looked as inviting to hitters as a white cherry snow cone you could purchase at the concession stand. (Link: https://youtu.be/xfzXCOljOtM) 

“Come on, G, have some fun,” urged her mom during one game that year. 

That Lewis did, as a senior for her Colts. Her pitching helped upset West 8-7 in eight innings March 10, striking out a career-high 19 batters in just six innings of work. 

The Cottonwood senior got her first win of the year on March 24, going the distance against Park City in a 12-11 victory. She fanned another 19 hitters. 

Perhaps the finest moment of her four years at Cottonwood, however, came when Lewis’ pitching helped five-run-rule Summit Academy March 28 in a 14-1 win. She allowed just two hits, the fewest as a Colts starter. 

And on April 12, Lewis would earn her fourth and final win of the season at Jordan in a 14-12 victory. Her 144 strikeouts ranked her ninth among all Class 4A pitchers and she was again named First-Team All-Region. Lewis’ 12.50 ERA was the lowest in her four years at Cottonwood. 

For her Colts, the team Lewis stayed with for all four years, a rarity in this age of name, image and likeness, it was their best season in several years, perhaps somewhat brought forth by the hard work their starting pitcher put in.