Girls Tennis: ‘It’s just amazing’ Batavia senior Leah Puttin joins 100-win club

BATAVIA – Growing up, Leah Puttin would see the names of the ‘century club’ on the fences of the Batavia tennis courts.

She wanted to join that “more than anything.”

Puttin can now officially say she did it. The Batavia senior reached 100 career varsity wins on Sep. 4 with a 6-0, 6-2 sweep alongside her doubles partner, Bella Lins.

Puttin is the ninth player in Batavia program history to achieve the feat. As of last Wednesday, Lins is 13 away from also accomplishing 100 wins.

“Freshman year, I really took seriously,” Puttin said. “I may have kept a little too much track of my win count and worried a little too much about it. I knew that every match I went into I was going to try and win it any way I could with my partner.”

“My partners are the reason I’m where I’m at,” Puttin continued. “Sophie [Cange] freshman year, Maddie [Durso] sophomore year and Bella to close out the last two years of high school have really been amazing people to go on this journey with. I’ve also been given so many opportunities by coach [Brad] Nelson as well…it’s been a really big goal of mine and it’s just amazing that I was able to accomplish it with my partner who has been on varsity as a freshman as well.”

Nelson has known Puttin, who also plays varsity softball, for many years. Her tennis career essentially began when Nelson got a small neighborhood group to hit tennis balls in the summer.

“It kind of just took off from there,” Nelson said. “I saw a lot of potential early and encouraged her parents to get her involved in some things in the offseason. I knew she was a softball player, so she had the good hand-eye coordination and the athleticism so I knew she would be a special player. It certainly has turned out well.”

“She’s got a lot of charisma; a lot of girls look up to her,” Nelson continued. “She communicates very well. She’s got a fun personality…she’s also the person who can fire you up and get you motivated.”

Anytime a Batavia player reaches the century mark, Nelson puts it in perspective for them.

“Think about this: 1977 is when our program started,” Nelson said. “You figure you get 40-60 kids a year out; this year we had 78, which is a record for our program. When you have that many kids out a year, multiply that the number of years you’ve been here, that’s a lot of players.”

“To be one of those nine or 10 that have made it this far, the 100 wins, is something special,” Nelson continued. “Do the math: It takes four years averaging 25 wins a year; that’s tough to do. It’s pretty hard to reach 100 unless you start as a freshman…I think we’ve had maybe one girl that did it in less than four years.”