Macy Banks knew she wanted to be a college softball player from a young age.
She joined her first travel softball team at 10 years old and quickly realized she had a knack for the sport. Banks excelled at pitching and batting, and by the eighth grade, she was already starting to see interest from recruiters.
“At that point, I was like ‘OK, I think if I really stick with this and work really hard, I could be really good at this,’” Banks said. “And eventually maybe play in college.”
Once she had a goal in mind, high school went pretty much as planned for Banks — now a senior at East Hall.
She started as a pitcher for the Lady Vikings softball team as a freshman, receiving immediate interest from Georgia State.
Class of 2020
The Times puts together this special senior recognition each year, highlighting a few standout stories from our local seniors, but this year we’ve added graduation lists from our local schools in an effort to honor as many graduates as we can. We hope you’re inspired by these stories and join us in celebrating the class of 2020. You can view these stories online as well as upcoming photo coverage of this year's graduation ceremonies.
She visited the Atlanta campus in the spring of her sophomore year and received an offer to continue her softball career with the Panthers.
“I really loved the coaches and the campus and everything about playing there,” Banks said. “So when they offered me, I was super excited. I was just super, super excited that the coaches thought I was good enough and wanted to give me an opportunity to play there one day.”
Banks received first-team all region honors for Region 7-3A all four years of high school, leading the Lady Vikings to four consecutive region championships and making it all the way to the 3A state quarterfinals as a senior.
“The softball program has made so much history since I’ve been at East Hall,” she said. “I’ll never forget the moments we’ve created and I’ve had there.”
Banks said she has always been appreciative of the support the team received from the East Hall community, and in her junior year she found a way to use her softball skills to give some of that support back.
While she was working concessions at the East Hall Community Center, parents of younger girls began approaching her to ask if she would be interested in giving pitching lessons.
“I had never really thought about giving lessons before, but I was like, I’m always (at the East Hall Community Center), so I might as well,” she said. “So I started giving lessons to one or two girls, and then I made a few posts on Facebook and I got a lot of feedback from it.”
Over the past two years, Banks has administered classes to five or six girls at a time, coaching them up so they can one day become impact players for the Lady Vikings themselves.
“I enjoy teaching other girls about softball, because around the East Hall area, there’s not a lot of places you can get hitting and pitching lessons,” Banks said. “I was like, I might as well use this opportunity to help other people.”
In addition to playing softball, Banks received a nursing assistant certification as a dual-enrollment student. She plans to study kinesiology or public health at Georgia State and eventually become a physician’s assistant.
But no matter where her future schooling takes her, Banks said she will always remember where it began.
“Just being able to have that opportunity to play a lot and receive tons and tons of opportunities was really special to me,” Banks said. “I’ll never forget all the things that East Hall has given to me.”
East Hall High School graduating seniors
A tentative list provided by Hall County Schools
Claudia Acevedo
Arely Adame
Oscar Aguirre
Milca Alarcon
Christian Aldaco
Megan Allen
Nicollette Allen
Juan Alvarez-Corona
Emilie Amormino
Dan Andrade
Martin Aragon
Selena Arellano
Estefany Arevalo
Cindy Argueta
Chandler Arrowood
Vanessa Arroyo
Angel Arteaga
Elizabeth Aviles
Christopher Ayala
Joel Ayala
Andrea Ayon
Brisa Baez
Jaden Bales
Macy Banks
Katie Baugh
Kahmia Blackwell
Osiris Bran
Jacob Brewer
Abigail Brown
Destiny Bryant
Shelby Burns
Tysun Butler
Joanna Calvillo
Alejandra Camacho
Samantha Camacho
Stacy Camarillo
Beverly Camp
Anthony Campbell
Nayeli Canales
Damien Cano
Elizabeth Cardoso
Alejandra Carrillo
Daniela Carrillo
Merary Carrizales
Gerardo Castillo
Josue Castro
Madelaine Chanon
Austin Cook
Lesli Cortes
Carley Cox
Adrian Cruz
Josue Cruz
Michelle Cruz
Victor Cruz
Madison Danner
Marissa Davidson
Luis Del Rio
Raquel Diaz Turrubiates
Melissa Dominguez
Kariya Dowell
Magaly Duarte
Savannah Duckett
Melody Dunagan
Makenzie Duncan
Diego Duran
William Eldred
Aaliyah Ellison
Karli Emmett
Luis Escobar
Carlos Espinoza
Gisselle Espinoza
Roxana Espinoza
Chris Estrada
Ethan Evans
Kenneth Fajardo
Irving Flores
Laura Flores
Jodie Ford
Quillan Free
Daisy Fuentes
Giselle Gallaga
Melissa Galvez
Pedro Galvez
Alondra Garcia
Hender Garcia
Martin Garcia
Saira Garcia
Staci Garrison
Jamarien Gaudlock
Brayden Gillespie
Isaiah Goff
Omar Gomez
Karina Gonzalez
Shinay Gonzalez
Kaitlyn Graves
Alysia Gray
Andre Gray
Darryl Gray
Haley Grooms
Yalletzi Guerrero
Vega Mary Gutierrez
DeAndre Harrison
Keiunna Harrison
Gerardo Hernandez
Maritza Hernandez
Omar Hernandez
Drew Highfield
James Hightower
Zion Hill
Daniel Hinshaw
Laura Holguin
Logan Howard
Zamien Howell
Miracle Hudson
Josiah Irvin
Alexis Jaramillo
Alejandro Jasso
Mayetta Jones
Faila Kisebwe
Shante Lanyon
Janelly Lara
Dylan Lee
Kaymani Leiro
Kallon Lewallen
Jeff Linares
Keylla Lira
Alejandro Lopez Guerrero
Pierre Lyles
Kayla Madrigal
Luis Magana
Jocelyn Maldonado
Othon Marban
Tyler Martin
Albert Martinez
Gilbert Martinez
Jason Martinez
Luz Martinez
Tyler Mayabb
Jordan McCann
Josue Medina
Itzel Mejia
Daniela Melendez Rodriguez
Madison Melgar-Acosta
Janet Mendoza
Lizeth Mendoza
Sofia Mendoza
Alina Mendoza-Castrejon
Guadalupe Mendoza-Duran
William Merck
Amberly Miller
Jason Miller
Destiny Mize
Elizabeth Mojica
Miguel Molina
Miguel Mondragon
Denci Murillo
Micah Murray
Nashali Nava-Munoz
Christopher Nazworth
Treveon Newson
Arabella Nicholson
Cassidy Nickerson
Suzan Norman
Julian Osborne
Melvin Palomo-Campos
Jose Pantoja-Ruelas
Ronnie Passmore
Logan Patterson
Lauren Payne
Alexis Pedraza
Tynayia Peoples
Mariano Perez Villanueva
Tyler Pham
Dakoata Phimmachack
Eric Pineda
Marilin Pineda
Naxely Ponce
Magdiel Portillo
Monterious Prather
Jaquelin Ramirez
Lesley Ramirez
Roman Ramirez
Odaris Ramos
Bryce Reeves
Judith Reyes
Nyah Reyes
Luna-Alyssa Rhodes-Touchet
Tessa Rider
Cesar Rios
Xavier Rivera
Abigail Rodriguez
Angela Rodriguez
Daisy Rodriguez
Jesse Rodriguez
Julius Rodriguez
Rashel Rodriguez
Stephanie Rodriguez
Yeinny Rodriguez
Natalie Romero
Miguel Romero Gomez
Yairin Romero Gonzalez
Galilea Rosas Guzman
Ernesto Ruiz
Jose Ruiz
Abigail Salgado
Teresa Salgado
Maggie Sargent
Sean Saunders
Kayla Sellers
Carolina Sesmas
Bailey Seymour
Andrea Silva
Giselle Silva
Ethan Skarda
Annabelle Smith
Nicole Smith
Rondale Smith
Taylor Smith
Tristan Smith
Leslie Sorto
Abbey Stanley
Hunter Sunderman
Gabriel Taylor
Alysia Teague
Gavino Tello
Aaron Thomas
Britney Thomas
Encosi Tilmon
Dylan Timms
Peyton Turner
Destiny Turpin
Rachel Tyre
Helen Ulloa
Ariel Urapo
Ruth Urizar
Miguel Valentin
Ashley Valladarez
Malachi Vance
Joana Vargas
Gabriel Velazquez
Ytsel Villagomez
Albert Villatoro
Kaitlin Vongsayadeth
Breanna Walls
Katherine White
Malichi White
Harley Wilbanks
Vincent Wilkins
Cody Woodard
William Yizar
Koltin Zona
