FANNIN COUNTY SPORTS HALL OF FAME

Karly Thompson excelled at softball, track & field

  • Karly Thompson hit nine home runs during her senior season with the Fannin County Lady Rebels.
    Karly Thompson hit nine home runs during her senior season with the Fannin County Lady Rebels.
  • Her 2013 graduating class members chose Karly Thompson as Most Athletic Senior Girl.
    Her 2013 graduating class members chose Karly Thompson as Most Athletic Senior Girl.
  • After high school, Karly Thompson played for the Atlanta Vipers during the summers of 2012 and 2013. She is shown with the National Championship trophy the team won in 2013.
    After high school, Karly Thompson played for the Atlanta Vipers during the summers of 2012 and 2013. She is shown with the National Championship trophy the team won in 2013.
  • Karly Thompson with a Track & Field medal.
    Karly Thompson with a Track & Field medal.
  • Karly Thompson comes from her shortstop position to turn a double play.
    Karly Thompson comes from her shortstop position to turn a double play.
  • Karly Thompson is now the head softball coach at Habersham Central High School in Mt. Airy, Georgia.
    Karly Thompson is now the head softball coach at Habersham Central High School in Mt. Airy, Georgia.

    By Mike Harper

    Prior to Friday, August 15, 2003, the Fannin County High School Lady Rebels competed with other schools in the game of softball of the slow pitch variety. On that date, they embarked on the much more challenging fast pitch version of the sport when they competed in the Flowery Branch invitational tournament. The Lady Rebels faced Banks County in their first game dropping the contest by a score of 11-1.

    For all the history buffs in the audience, the first run scored by Fannin County in fast pitch softball was by Jill Tuttle. The coach of the team was Fannin County Sports Hall of Fame member Suzianne Pass. The first victory came in the second game played on August 15 over Gilmer County by a score of 12-2.

    One year later, one of the best softball players in Fannin history and 2025 Fannin County Sports Hall of Fame inductee Karly Thompson entered the Fannin County School System for the first time as a fourth grade student. Her family had visited the North Georgia mountains several times and, in 2004, her parents, Beth and Jim Thompson, decided to relocate to Blue Ridge leaving Sarasota, Florida, behind. Karly and her older sister Katie were both athletic young ladies and began playing softball, basketball and track and field upon their arrival in Fannin County.

    Karly discovered early that she had natural talent for the game of softball. As her eighth grade year rolled around, she was one of the best players in the area as she helped the Fannin JV team post a record of seven wins and three losses. In reviewing the season, her coach said, “We had a great player in shortstop Karly Thompson. She had to pitch a game this year when our regular pitcher was sick and threw a no-hitter.” She moved on as the starting shortstop for the varsity squad as a freshman in the fall of 2009.

    During her high school career, Karly Thompson was a formidable hitter and equally skilled with her glove on defense. Playing the challenging position of shortstop, she committed only 22 errors in four years of competition posting a fielding average of .960. She was given the nickname of “Thunderstick” in recognition of her prowess on the offensive side of the ball.

    During her four years of high school softball, the Fannin Lady Rebels had winning records each season, winning 15 games in each of the 2009, 2010 and 2011 seasons and 24 games in her senior season of 2012. Karly’s offensive numbers were impressive each season, highlighted by her senior year when she batted .404 with nine home runs, 45 RBIs and 31 runs scored. Her nine home run total is a Fannin County High School all-time season record.

    As a junior in 2011, Karly was named second team all-region helping her team win the region 8AA Championship and a fifth place finish in the state tournament. As a senior, she was a first team all-region and a first team all-state selection. When asked about her biggest thrills during her high school career, Karly is quick to mention the fifth place finish in the state tournament in 2011. One of her biggest individual thrills was doubling in the tying run in a playoff game against Dade County during the 2011 state tournament.

    In addition to playing with the Fannin Lady Rebels, Thompson was recruited to play for the elite Atlanta Vipers travel team during the summers of 2012 and 2013. Comprised of some of the finest softball players in the south, the Vipers finished fifth in the national tournament held in Clearwater in 2012 and won the national championship in the tournament held in July of 2013. Karly manned the all-important shortstop position for each of these teams.

    Karly was also an outstanding track and field participant for the Fannin Lady Rebels track and field squad. As a senior, she finished second in the discus throw at the Region 8AA track and field meet. She went on to finish seventh, winning a medal at the state class AA track and field meet with a throw of 110 feet, four inches.

    In recognition of her athletic accomplishments, her classmates selected Karly as the Most Athletic senior girl in the 2013 graduating class.

    Karly was recruited by several colleges following her high school days and signed to play collegiate softball at Morehead State University in Morehead, Kentucky. Morehead state is a member of the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) consisting of eleven schools competing in Division I of the NCAA.  Softball is a spring sport at the college level so Karly began her career at that level in the spring of 2014.

    As a freshman, Karly played in 46 games with 29 starts at shortstop for the Eagles. She was the starting shortstop as a sophomore, junior and senior posting season batting averages of .257, .301 and .276, respectively. She led the team with nine home runs and 31 runs batted in as a junior and led the team in doubles with eleven as a senior.

    When asked about her biggest thrill at Morehead,
    Karly points to her selection as OVC Player of the Week during her junior season. In that week in games against Toledo and Belmont, she hit for an average of .529 with eleven runs batted in.

    Karly graduated on time with a degree in exercise science in the spring of 2017. She would go on to earn a master’s degree in sports management and also completed the requirements to obtain a teacher’s certificate. Her plan was to enter the coaching profession so her education path was designed with that goal in mind.

    After graduation, Karly served as a graduate assistant coach at Morehead State. She later was an assistant softball coach at Presbyterian University and is currently the head softball coach at Habersham Central High School in Georgia. She says that she enjoys the teaching aspect of coaching at the high school level where athletes have not yet taken on the “entitlement” character of many collegiate athletes. Her focus is on the present and making the young ladies who she coaches able to compete at a championship level on and off the field.