Softball legend: Harkey the queen of the center fielders
Published 5:19 pm Friday, August 7, 2026
By Mike London
Salisbury Post
There are a lot of girls that love to win and there are some special girls that hate to lose.
Blair Harkey, the center fielder for West Rowan’s state championship teams in 2002 and 2003, took things a step further. She still is remembered for her motto on the softball field — “win or die trying.”
Harkey was athlete and also helped out the Falcons in volleyball and basketball, but softball was definitely her thing.
Rowan County has produced plenty of stronger hitters than Harkey over the years, but it is unlikely anyone has ever been better than she was at patrolling center field. She turned that job into an art form.
The Falcons won 91 games during her four seasons (2001-04), as West turned the corner to being a strong program her freshman year and followed with three more super years, with state titles her sophomore and junior seasons.
Blair’s older sister, Brittany, who played college ball at Queens, was the third baseman on West’s championship teams.
Even with all those wins, the Falcons didn’t pound the ball all that often. The West teams of that era were happy to beat you 2-1 or 1-0 with strike-throwing pitchers and defense. If you didn’t hit the ball over the fence against them, you probably were going to be out because not much got through the infield and not much dropped in the outfield.
N.C. State began playing Division I softball in the spring of 2004. The first outfielder ever recruited by Wolfpack coach Lisa Naves was Harkey. That tells you something about how good she was in the center field. She broke the right way immediately on every flyball. It’s an instinct even more important than pure speed, and you either have it or you don’t. She had it.
Harkey also could throw and she was confident in her arm strength and accuracy. More than one startled base runner singled to center against the Falcons, rounded the bag too far and found themselves being tagged out as they ambled back to first base by Jac White after a laser throw by Harkey.
Harkey batted .377 as a high school junior, but it was mostly her defense that attracted the attention of the Wolfpack, as well as UNC.
When she joined the NC State softball squad as a freshman, the team was still playing home games at the Walnut Creek Complex, the site in Raleigh where West Rowan had won its state titles.
Harkey adjusted quickly to college softball and became a four-year starter in center field for the Wolfpack. She didn’t get to bat much as a sophomore, but Naves kept her in center field. The other three seasons she was in the standard starting lineup, batting second or ninth. Her batting average stayed close to the team average and she scored quite a few runs, but she always understood most of her value was going to be with her glove.
She could bunt and broke the program record for sacrifice bunts with 45.
In Harkey’s first official game for the Wolfpack on Feb. 4, 2005, she made a running catch to save the game against Mississippi State. That play let her know she could thrive in the ACC.
Harkey’s sophomore year, the Wolfpack won the ACC regular-season championship and ACC Tournament. She made a phenomenal catch in the tournament semifinal game with UNC. That was the year she didn’t get to bat much, but she made zero errors in center field and the championship ring made it all worthwhile.
She hit in the cages constantly prior to her junior year and she got back in the batting lineup. She had 18 RBIs as a junior.
She had game-deciding triples her senior year against Georgia State and UNC Charlotte.
She also got the first RBI when NC State opened Dail Stadium against UNC Greensboro. She ended her career when NC State finished as runner-up in the 2008 ACC Tournament.
Harkey, who grew up in Cleveland, began her career as an 8-year-old working with coach Ray Graham.
She graduated from NC State with a degree in biological sciences and with an even 100 hits. She played in 253 games for the Wolfpack.
She’ll be on the Salisbury-Rowan Hall of Fame ballot for the first time in 2027.