Jun. 21—The Mid Valley senior tripled, singled, drove in a run, scored a run and stole a base in her team’s 5-3 loss to Mount Pleasant in Friday’s Class 3A state final. Here’s more from her Athlete of the Week interview:
Do you have any pregame superstitions or rituals? Not really, but during the game I feel the need to constantly tighten my batting gloves, and if I don’t do it, I think I won’t hit.
In the state final you had a triple and a single, scored a run, drove in a run and stole a base. Even though the team came up short, you must be pretty pleased with your effort. I was definitely happy with how I performed that day.
What do you see going ahead for your teammates? I think they’re gonna have a successful upcoming season. They’re all really talented and they’re all really young. Once they’re going to get past the nerves, I think they’re going to be amazing.
Thursday night, you had a parade where you rode on the back of a trolley. How cool is that? Seeing the community support was such a cool feeling. Yeah, it was something.
What was it like to watch your fans fill a side of Beard Field? That was insane. I was not expecting that many people to come and drive down all the way to Penn State, but the thing that was so amazing was how the community comes together whether they’re a fan of softball or not. Seeing them come together was so cool. They all wore white T-shirts with Happy Valley on them, an homage to both your school and where you were playing. The players and coaches all got one.
Will you cherish that? Oh yeah. That shirt, that’s basically history. In the future I’ll be able to tell my kids that my last game I played in was a state championship. That was an awesome last game, and being able to say that we were in the state championship for the first time in Mid Valley history.
Second in the state is nothing to sneeze at. Have you been able to replace some of the sting of the loss with what you accomplished? Right after the game it (hurt). I was heartbroken because I’m not a fan of losing. But then you just think of how that was the first time that whole softball program made it to the state championship. So I was just happy that we got to that point, and again we made history.
Do you have a favorite athlete you admire? LeBron James
Sports teams you follow? New York Giants
Three people you would like to have dinner with. My friends Kyleigh Petcavage, Lacy Harrington, Marissa Kelly.
Who’s been the biggest influence on your sports career? My grandfather Vincent Jason. He always motivated me to keep playing, even when I was younger and didn’t want to. So he kind of kept me going.
What’s one meal that you can’t live without in your house? My grandmother’s spaghetti. She makes her own sauce.
One thing you would like to learn to do? I want to speak fluent Korean.
One teammate who always makes you laugh? Emma Kobylanski.
Joe Baress
Joe Baress teams up with Rebecca Kivak to write the Take 2 blog, reviewing movies and giving two perspectives on the same film. Together, they go beyond reviews with trailer reactions, actor and character analysis, and much more. In The Times-Tribune sports department, Joe is the high school wrestling beat writer in addition to covering high school football and designing pages. Contact: jbaress@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9100 x9125; @dukemich