Harrisburg senior Baylie Combs signed her name on a letter of intent to attend John Wood Community college in Quincy, Illinois, where she will play both basketball and softball. Combs’ college career will begin in the fall of 2021. She will participate on the Harrisburg track team this spring, competing in the 4x800-meter relay, along with running the mile and two-mile events.

Combs is the daughter of Harrisburg superintendent Steve Combs and his wife Carmen.

During the signing ceremony on March 24, Combs named her teammates and coaches as being instrumental to her success. Combs played basketball all four years under coach Ryan Richardson and began her softball career under coach Chris Ackman. Ackman was followed by Baylie’s father, Steve Combs, the latter part of her high school career.

Averaging 33 minutes per game her senior year, Baylie maintained a 14.9 scoring average while shooting 26.6% from the 3-point arc and 33.1% from two-point range. In addition, she pulled down 5.7 rebounds per game. Her free-throw shooting average was 81.5% for the year. 

On the softball field this past fall, Combs was a force on both offense and defense. As a senior, she maintained a .403 batting average and drove in 25 runs while pilfering seven bases in seven attempts. In 23 games as a pitcher, she struck out 97 opponents while giving up only 19 walks with an earned run average of 2.12.

“Baylie is a true competitor and a great leader for our team. Her ability to take the ball every day as a pitcher and her success in the middle of the lineup, made her invaluable to our team,” said Harrisburg softball coach and father Steve Combs. “We are proud of her and wish her good luck.”

Baylie said that John Wood has the kind of small-school atmosphere she likes and has smaller class sizes. “It’s really more of a local community, which I like,” said Combs. 

Winning the district championship this year was Combs’ favorite moment as a high school basketball player. “Defeating Salisbury at Salisbury was definitely the highlight of my career here,” said Combs.

Harrisburg basketball coach Ryan Richardson said that Baylie has been there every step of the way in his four years as head coach. “It will be a little bit different around here without her. She set the standard for what it means to show up every day and work hard and what it means to work hard when no one else is watching. She fell in love with the grind about two years ago and realized her potential. It’s been game on for her ever since.”

Along with playing basketball at JWCC, Combs will be playing softball. After starting her softball career at third base, she was later moved to pitcher and has patrolled the outfield and some infield.

On the hardwood, Combs anticipates playing mostly guard at the college level after playing forward most of her high school career. “I’m a little bit smaller at the college level,” she said.

JWCC coach Norman Rodriguez said he expects Baylie to play at an off-guard position. “With her legs and her fluidity and her ability to play both inside and outside, it will make her a tough matchup in our conference. More importantly, I like what she brings to our culture. She has great character and is a hard worker. She’s just one of those type of kids that will take a gut punch and gets right back up and keeps going.”