Softball
Favorite athlete: Jimmy Rollins
Favorite team: Philadelphia Phillies
Favorite memory competing in sports: Summer of sophomore year, finishing 17th in the country at Gold Nationals held in Oklahoma City with my TNT Gold team.
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: My very first travel tryout for 10U, I completely wiped out running the bases getting timed from home to home. I was so nervous, pumping my arms, thinking I was bolting it, and wiped out at first base headfirst. Everyone burst out laughing when I ate dirt.
Music on iPod: Beyonce and anything country.
Future plans: To play Division One collegiate softball at Towson University. After completing four years there, I hope to graduate and continue my education at medical school to become a doctor.
Words to live by: “Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.”
One goal before turning 30: To have a stable job to be able to support my family.
One thing people don’t know about me: I’m afraid of horses.
By Mary Jane Souder
Daria Edwards is a fearless competitor on the softball diamond.
It’s just one of the reasons, according to coach Joe DiFilippo, the Hatboro-Horsham senior is such a standout third baseman.
“When she plays third, she plays right on top of the batter,” the Hatters’ coach said. “She’s in charge of my infield, she’s in charge of my team. How Daria goes is how this team will go.”
That’s high praise for an athlete who, by her own admission, was anything but fearless during her first stint at third base when she was 14.
“I used to wear a facemask because I used to be scared to death of the ball being so close,” Edwards said. “When I played for my dad, he stuck me there and said, ‘You’re going to do fine. You can’t fear the ball. You’ll get over it.’
“He was right – I did get over it. I probably only wore it for a month or two before I realized – I probably look silly.”
Edwards has gone on to become one of the area’s premiere softball players, and she is the captain and undisputed leader of a young Hatters squad this season. She has signed a letter of intent to play softball at Towson University.
But softball is just the tip of the iceberg for a young lady who is the very definition of a student-athlete. An excellent student, Edwards aspires to one day become a doctor.
“I know it’s a lot of work,” she said. “My mom’s a nurse, my grandmother’s a nurse, and my aunt’s a nurse, so the medical field kind of runs in our family.
“My mom doesn’t want me to settle for being a nurse. She said, ‘Shoot for the stars.’ It’s something I think I would really enjoy doing.”
Softball has been part of Edwards’ life for as long as she can remember. Her older sister, Chelsea, also excelled and is now playing at Lock Haven University.
“Me and my brother surprisingly liked to get up at 6 a.m. and go to the fields early to watch her play,” Edwards said. “We would play on the playground, but when it came time to watch the game, it was just so much fun to watch her. She taught me everything I know.
“It’s something that we’ve grown to love. My parents have always been supportive of it, but it wasn’t something that was forced.”
As a youngster, Edwards also took dancing lessons for several years. She swam until she was in middle school and gave basketball a try when she was in middle school. Softball, however, was her top priority.
Edwards caught the eye of DiFilippo from the outset, and it wasn’t long before she was pulled up to varsity for a squad that went on to capture the state title.
“I had her on jayvee first, and every game she played – the girls would come up to me and say, ‘Daria hit another home run,’” DiFilippo said. “After three or four games, I had to bring her up.”
The Hatters’ coach can still remember her first big hit.
“She came in against Quakertown and hit a triple, and it was a shot,” he said. “She just pinch hit for me as a freshman, but the greatest thing was – she experienced all that, and it made her what she is today.”
Edwards acknowledged the experience was significant.
“Whether I was sitting on the bench just cheering or if I got an at-bat, it was just a great experience with the girls of that level,” she said. “Julie Wambold, Val Sadowl, Jackie DiPietro – all those girls were on the team, and I really looked up to them.
“There was things I could learn from all of them, and it was a really good experience.”
With the graduation of a strong senior class from the state title squad, DiFilippo had some serious holes to fill the following year. He put Edwards behind the plate, and she went on to earn all-league honors.
Again, it was a far cry from her initial experience behind the plate.
“My first year when I was eight playing for 10U, my sister was a catcher, and I thought, ‘I’ll just have her hand-me-downs. I want to catch. It sounds fun,’” Edwards recalled. “But when the ball was thrown, I would move out of the way.
“My dad, who was an assistant, and my coach said, ‘You know what – maybe this catching stuff isn’t for you,’ so I kind of hung up the gear.”
Until her sophomore year when DiFilippo called her number
“Coach Joe said, ‘Can you catch?’” Edwards recalled. “I said, ‘Sure, why not? I’ll give it a go.’ I actually enjoy playing all the positions I get moved around for.
“I’ll do whatever- wherever coach puts me is where I’ll go.”
Edwards, who also filled in behind the plate for her travel team that year, made the switch from the Horsham Banshees to TNT Gold, following in the footsteps of several of her Hatter teammates.
“I wanted to get more serious with softball,” she said. “It’s something I wanted to pursue.
“Instead of playing tournaments every weekend and winning, you played showcases where you played in front of college. That’s where I got started, and to this day, I still play for TNT.”
It was during a trip to Towson for one of her first camp that Edwards interest was sparked.
“I went to a hitting clinic at Towson,” she said. “The girls were on the buckets feeding you the ball, so it was a one-on-one experience.
“You had time to talk to the coach, and just driving around the campus, I was like, ‘Wow, this is really a beautiful campus.’ I had never really heard of Towson before. I kept in contact with them throughout my high school career. One day I saw them on the sidelines. I thought I was just sending e-mails but they were actually responding. It was great.”
Edwards made a verbal commitment to Towson on April 29 of her junior year.
“It was truly the biggest relief,” she said. “I remember calling the coach. She gave me a week to think about it.
“I came home and sat down with my parents. I remember my mom crying because she was so proud. It was definitely a big relief for me. All the hard work paid off, and it was honestly one of the best feelings in the world.”
DiFilippo calls Edwards ‘the complete package.’
“When she first came in as a sophomore, she was our catcher, and she was an all-league catcher,” he said. “Her junior year she asked if she could have a crack at playing the infield, so we moved her to shortstop, and she was an all-league shortstop.
“She plays anywhere I put her. Right now, she’s playing third, but stay tuned. You never know. She’s a great catcher, she’s a great third baseman. She’ll get dirty any time.”
At the plate, Edwards is a feared hitter.
“Nine times out of 10, she hits the ball hard,” DiFilippo said. “She hit nine home runs last year. Heather (Lutz) hit nine, so I had 18 home runs between the two of them.
“She’ll go over 10 this year if teams pitch to her. Everyone knows her. Against Lansdale Catholic, she hit a ball to the opposite field that was just an unbelievable piece of hitting. She ended up with a single to the opposite field because they threw so far outside to her, and she just poked it out there. She’ll do that. She’s not one of those kids that’s a home run or nothing, and she’s not a head case. She is a pleasure to coach.”
This year Edwards is the lone captain of a young and inexperienced squad. The team, according to DiFilippo, couldn’t be in better hands.
“She was the captain of the red and black team,” he said of the school’s annual spirit competition. “Everyone in the school loves her.
“She comes from a great family. I have some pretty nice kids, but nobody compares to her. When will I ever get another one like Daria where I could put her at third, short, catch or second? I can tell her to play anywhere. You just don’t get that.”
