School: Souderton
Track & Field, Softball
Favorite athlete: Roy Halladay
Favorite team: Philadelphia Phillies
Favorite memory competing in sports: Playing on the same team as my sister.
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: Two years ago, I was asked to throw out the first pitch at the Harleysville Girls’ Softball Association opening day. I went out to the mound, and in front of all the teams from the organization plus parents, I threw the first pitch to the top of the backstop.
Music on iPod: Country music
Future plans: Attend Shippensburg University on a softball scholarship
Words to live by: ‘Never let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game.’
One goal before turning 30: To be on my way to having a successful career.
One thing people don’t know about me: I love to cook.
Liz Parkins qualified for the SOL track meet in shot put this spring.
While that’s hardly big news if you’re a track and field athlete, it is noteworthy when you’re the star pitcher of your softball team, and Parkins certainly fits the bill of star.
The Souderton senior not only carried her team to unexpected heights this season, she also competed in four meets with the track team. It all came about because of an off-season workout program created for the softball players by coach Courtney Hughes and track coach John Rowe last fall.
Parkins, it seems, got hooked.
“It really helped me,” she said. “I got a lot faster from it, and I wanted to keep up with the workouts so I wouldn’t lose my speed from winter until the start of softball.”
With that in mind, Parkins continued to do weight training with the indoor track team once a week, and at the suggestion of her English teacher who also coaches track – Krysten Goetter, she also took up the shot put.
“I had gone to a winter track meet just to watch and see what it looked like, but you honestly don’t know what it’s like until you do it yourself,” Parkins said. “It was pretty interesting. I had to ask the girls, ‘Okay, guys, what am I supposed to do?’
“Being a senior, you would think I would be a leader, but instead, I was acting like a freshman because I had never done it before. During my first meet, I was really nervous, but the girls helped me relax. It’s totally different than softball. In softball, I’m calm, I’m ready, and I’m good under pressure where in track it’s like, ‘Oh my gosh, what am I doing?’”
It might well have been Parkins’ involvement in the new workout program that allowed her to elevate her game this spring.
“It was good for her because it really improved her strength,” Hughes said.
In addition to track, Parkins still attended off-season softball workouts twice a week and found time to see her pitching coach every other week.
“It was pretty intense for a couple of months,” she said.
The results were astonishing. Parkins, who improved both her strength and speed, not only accumulated over 200 strikeouts this season – which included a remarkable 18-strikeout effort against Downingtown West in the district tournament, she also led the Indians to their first state playoff berth since 2006.
“This means everything to me,” the Indians’ hurler said of reaching states. “This is what I have been working for since I was five.
“This is the kind of stuff you dream about.”
The players, according to Hughes, follow Parkins’ lead.
“The girls see her face in games, and they want it for her because she’s playing with such passion for the game, and that communicates to her teammates,” the Indians’ coach said. “They want to win, and they want to do well because they see what she’s doing.”
Riding the strong arm of Parkins, the Indians, who compete in the SOL Continental Conference, went on a remarkable 11-game winning streak during the regular season, and after missing out on a district playoff berth last season, the Indians claimed their spot among the district’s elite softball teams when they earned the fifth and final state playoff berth.
“I think we take her for granted,” catcher Mollie Burrell said. “We don’t really realize how great she is.
“She’s amazing. She’s worked really hard, and she deserves this her senior year. I’m just glad I could be a part of it.”
Burrell, who catches Parkins during her off-season sessions with her pitching coach, has a special relationship with Parkins, and she needs just two words to describe her batterymate’s demeanor on the mound – stone cold.
“You wouldn’t know what the score of the game was by watching her,” Burrell said. “Other than Thursday (when the Indians defeated Owen J. Roberts 2-0 to clinch a state berth) – I did notice with two outs in the seventh inning, up by two, there was a little smile on her face, but she got rid of it real quick.
“She knew the first game we played CB South at home we were winning in the seventh inning. We were fired up, and we thought the game was over, but they turned around and ended up winning the game. That was our first maturing moment for both of us.”
The Indians came back to defeat defending district champion Central Bucks South the second time around. They also earned a win over this year’s district champion Hatboro-Horsham in a contest that saw Parkins fan 16 batters. The senior hurler admits she has even surprised herself with her strikeout numbers.
“I was in shock because I honestly don’t keep track during a game,” she said. “Against Downingtown West, when coach gave me the game ball, I was just so excited because it was the (district) playoffs and we won.
“She pointed to the ball and I saw 18 (strikeouts). I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I have never done that before.’ My pitching coach told me I should call her when I got 18, so right after the game, I gave her a call. She said, ‘Are you sure you got that right?’”
Making Parkins’ numbers even more impressive is the fact that the pitching rubber has been moved from 40 to 43 feet this year. While that has cut down on strikeout totals for most pitchers, Parkins’ numbers have been on the rise.
“The 43 feet was a blessing for her because at 40 feet her ball couldn’t move the way it’s moving now,” Hughes said. “At 40 feet, she was a good pitcher. She was fast enough, but once girls timed her, she wasn’t mowing anybody down.
“When it went back to 43, it allowed her pitches to make that late break. She really worked on her spins and her breaks this year, and it’s the reason why she is able to be so successful.”
Parkins acknowledged that moving the pitching rubber to 43 feet may have something to do with her success, especially with her money pitch - the rise ball.
“With the 43 feet it comes in lower and has a tighter break,” she said. “When I’m throwing it during a lesson, my coach always says - do you see it move, do you see it flutter, and I can’t. It really frustrates me.”
Frustrate is too kind a word for what Parkins’ rise ball does to batters.
“Her pitches are incredible – they move all over the place,” Burrell said. “She has a couple of off-speed pitches, but her rise ball is her bread and butter, her dynamite pitch.
“I can call it any time in the count. It’s just her pitch. She was saying she’s so confident in her rise ball she wishes she could just throw it every pitch. The movement on that pitch – you can’t hit it. I love to catch it because you see the batters take these huge swings on it, and they’re not going to hit it. They’re not going to hit it.”
If Parkins were only a dominant pitcher, she would be pretty special, but she’s much more than that. The senior captain repeatedly has come up with big hits to help her own cause. Beyond that, Hughes points to her positive leadership as significant.
“She’s always smiling,” the Indians’ coach said. “She doesn’t scream at her teammates, she doesn’t get mad at them. I’m sure she gets frustrated when we’re not playing the way we should and we’re making errors because that’s just natural, but she doesn’t ever let them see it.
“You see a lot of pitchers that expect perfection, and if you’re not perfect, they’ll let you know. That’s not how she is. She wants you to do great behind her. She’s just so approachable and endearing to everybody.”
Parkins developed her passion for the game at an early age, inspired by her older sister Emily, who preceded her at Souderton. The two will be teammates again next fall when Parkins – who made a verbal commitment before the start of the school year – will join her sister at Shippensburg, the recipient of a softball scholarship.
She has always been a pitcher – except for a brief stint at age 13 when she decided she wanted to become a catcher.
“I didn’t want to work to be a pitcher,” Parkins said. “I took a week off, didn’t pitch, and I caught a couple of games.
“I was like, ‘I can’t do this. I have to pitch.’ Pitching was more my thing.”
Just as Parkins has excelled on the diamond, she also excels in the classroom. An honors student, Parkins took AP Biology and AP Spanish this year. She is going into her freshman year undeclared but is leaning toward a criminal justice major.
She is looking forward to one last go-round with her sister Emily on the softball diamond at Shippensburg.
“We have one year together,” Parkins said. “I’m just really excited. I miss her so much when she leaves for school.
“My freshman year when she was a senior – one of my main goals was making varsity since she was going to be on the team, and just to have that happen again is so exciting.”
Shippensburg – according to Hughes – is inheriting a student-athlete who can be defined in just a few words.
“Her spirit, her attitude, her positivity and her desire,” the Indians’ coach said. “She’s such a nice kid, a kid that gets along with so many people, so she’s really able to bring a team together.”
Parkins brought this year’s Souderton squad together for a magical season that will be difficult to duplicate.
