The senior softball player pitched a complete-game two-hitter with two walks and six strikeouts, and went 1 for 3 with a home run to lead Valley View to a 1-0 victory over Tunkhannock, as the Cougars captured their fourth straight District 2 Class 4A softball championship.<\/p>\n
Family: Father, Ryan; mother, Danielle; brother, Brody<\/p>\n
Coach: Mia Wascura<\/p>\n
What did winning this district championship mean to you: It meant a lot to me, especially since I\u2019m a senior and it\u2019s my last year and just the adrenaline of knowing it\u2019s one-and-done now if we lose. I feel like it really fueled the entire team to push for the seniors for their last year.<\/p>\n
You pitched a two-hit shutout. What was working for you on the mound and how were you able to settle in: I was just trying to stay relaxed. My changeup was working really well. The night before, I was actually working on all my spin work, so that really helped me in the game.<\/p>\n
Take me through the at-bat where you hit the home run and how you were able to get good contact: Actually, right before I went up to the box, Coach Mia called a timeout, and she pulled me to the side and she said this is what you\u2019re meant for, just do your thing, and it kind of just relaxed me. I was trying to slow down the game and just look for my pitch.<\/p>\n
In a game like that, how are you able to handle the mental aspect of the game? How do you stay so calm and thrive under pressure situations like that: I feel like just throughout the years of travel ball I\u2019ve kind of learned how to handle pressure situations, and I feel like I thrive off pressure situations just knowing that I have to make an impact on the game and do something to help my team.<\/p>\n
How proud are you of this team to once again beat a very tough Tunkhannock team in the district final: I\u2019m really proud of everyone, especially the freshman. They\u2019re doing a really good job. They\u2019re meshing well with all the girls, and it\u2019s just been a really fun season.<\/p>\n
What was the atmosphere of that game like? Did the Valley View fans travel well: Yeah, the atmosphere was crazy. We had everyone yelling. There were a ton of boys up on the railroads at Wilkes. It was just really fun to see that the community supports us.<\/p>\n
You won a state title last season, and lost some key players to graduation, including Kalli Karwowski and Taylor Cawley. How did this team develop this season: I say this all the time, softball will humble you no matter who you are as a person or player. It\u2019s about how you come back from the setbacks. So, I feel like we struggled at first in the beginning of the season, but we worked really hard in practice to come back and we know that we have to get it done now.<\/p>\n
You were dealing with shin splints throughout the season. How did you work through that: It was hard for me at first to not be able to be on the field my senior year, but I took rehab really seriously and I had to slow myself down so that I could be good for playoffs.<\/p>\n
You\u2019ve probably become even more of a leader. What has your role been like this season: I feel like as a leader I\u2019ve been just trying to keep the girls in a positive mindset. When something doesn\u2019t go our way, I try to uplift them and tell them, \u2018Hey, you\u2019ll be fine. Just keep going to the next play.\u2019 And I feel like that\u2019s what I like doing. I\u2019m majoring in sports psychology, so I enjoy helping athletes with the struggle of the game. So, I feel like I play a big role in that part on the team.<\/p>\n
Is there a teammate that has impressed you the most with their development or how they stepped up this season: Definitely Ella Swingle. She\u2019s hitting the ball really well and she\u2019s really good at second base and doing her thing.<\/p>\n
How excited are you to get to Clemson: I\u2019m really excited. It\u2019s just a whole new chapter of my life and I just can\u2019t wait to see where it leads me.<\/p>\n
Athlete you admire: Definitely Karlyn Pickens from Tennessee. She\u2019s a hard worker, and she doesn\u2019t let things get to her head, and she actually just set the record for the faster pitch ever thrown in softball history. So, I just look up to that.<\/p>\n
Do you have any superstitions or rituals: I always have to drink an Alani energy drink, and I have to wear bubbles in my hair, and then I go for a drive before the game.<\/p>\n
Favorite food: Steak and rice<\/p>\n
Favorite sports teams: Definitely Clemson, and then for football probably the Raiders.<\/p>\n
Favorite movie: \u201cThe Notebook\u201d<\/p>\n
Favorite TV show: Love Island<\/p>\n
Favorite musical artist: Drake<\/p>\n
Three people you\u2019d like to have dinner with: Karlyn Pickens, (former Clemson softball player) Maddie Moore and (Clemson softball coach) John Rittman.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The senior softball player pitched a complete-game two-hitter with two walks and six strikeouts, and went 1 for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":208152,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[7804,305,178,180,179,726],"class_list":["post-208151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-athlete-of-the-week","tag-high-school-sports","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208151","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=208151"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208151\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/208152"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=208151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=208151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=208151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}