Field Hockey, Softball, Track & Field
Favorite athlete: Tom Brady
Favorite team: New England Patriots (and whatever team Brady is on).
Favorite memory competing in sports: When our team tied the second-place national shutout streak record in field hockey my junior year.
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: Scoring on my own net in ice hockey to tie the game.
Music on playlist: All of the best early 2000s hits.
Future plans: Attend the Air Force Academy and study aerospace engineering.
Words to live by: “Be kind.”
One goal before turning 30: Foster a puppy!
One thing people don’t know about me: I can say the alphabet backwards in under 4 seconds.
By GORDON GLANTZ
New Hope-Solebury softball coach Chris Marchok, a Harvard graduate with life experience that included a five-year career in the minor leagues and time in playing winter ball in Venezuela during a coup, is as well spoken as they come.
And yet he had to search for the right way to portray senior shortstop Erin Firth.
“It’s really hard to give you a true sense of this kid just in words,” he said. “There is this solid core of maturity to her, and there is this solid core of decency and kindness and respect. And, yet, there is this kid who is going to compete 100 percent -- and I mean 100 percent.”
So, in other words, she is the epitome of a student-athlete and overall citizen.
“That’s really how anybody would feel about Erin after spending a little bit of time with her,” said Marchok. “Literally, this is the kid who you want your son to date. This is the kid who you want to have babysit your little kids. She is the one you want looking in on your grandmother. She’s an unbelievable kid.”
Add in the fact that Firth has turned an 11th-hour decision into an appointment to the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and we have the proverbial cherry on top.
“We are fortunate to have her saying she wants to serve,” said Marchok. “In my heart, I knew she was going to go to the Air Force Academy and serve her country. It really fits. That’s who she is.”
Taking Flight
The vast majority of those with sights set on the Army, Naval or Coast Guard academies have been gearing themselves up for it since they were toddlers.
Not Firth.
She explained: “I definitely would be one of those people who woke up one day and said, ‘That’s what I want to do.’ For me, that happened in October of 2020. It was way, way too late for when I should have been getting started.”
She visited with neighbors, Sue and Vincent DeGiovanni, both Air Force Academy alums, to get more information and was able secure a nomination from U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick.
The rest was on her, as she shifted gears toward her new destination and drove in the fast lane to get there. That she was able to do it was a feat akin to her ability to say the alphabet backwards in less than four seconds.
“I basically rushed the whole process for getting into the academy into just three short months,” she said. “I really had no idea that was what I wanted to do until halfway through the college application process.”
Firth, who sports a weighted GPA of 4.43, had a long-time goal of studying engineering. It was when she refined it a bit that she zeroed in on the Air Force Academy.
“I realized it around that time that I wanted to do aerospace engineering,” she said. “I started researching schools that had the top programs for it. I applied to M.I.T. and Georgia Tech. I kept seeing the Air Force Academy. I thought, based on what I knew, which wasn’t much, it seemed like it would be a good fit. That’s when I contacted my neighbor. We talked, and it all went on from there.”
While getting into the Air Force Academy was an amazing feat, it is lacking a bit on the athletic end. Despite boasting a wide array of sports for women, they currently don’t have any of her sports – field hockey, ice hockey or softball – at the varsity level.
She is planning to fulfill her sports requirement by playing field hockey and/or softball at the club level while maybe helping the men’s ice hockey team as a manager and playing it there in an intramural league (although it won’t count toward the requirement of playing a sport).
Firth is currently playing two sports this spring, clearly proving she has no touches of Senioritis.
“I am attempting to split my time between track and softball, but it has been difficult because of our softball schedule, so I just go whenever I can,” she explained, adding that this schedule usually results in her only making it to softball games and being at track on the other days. “I only ran in one meet, during which I ran the 4x800.
“I am running track to help myself get into shape for the Air Force Academy, so I am not as interested in meets/specific race times. So, not much interesting in my track life, but I’m doing my best given the circumstances.”
Riding The Storm Out
Despite not having played competitive softball for years, Firth gave up lacrosse after her freshman year and offered her services.
“We needed numbers, and she just wanted to compete,” said Marchok. “She had been involved with another sport, but wanted to help us out. It’s just who she is. She is a competitor and she just wanted to help us out with our numbers.”
Firth initially played left field for the Lions as a sophomore. After her junior season was wiped out, she finds herself on the hot seat at shortstop.
“(Marchok) just said he was going to be putting me at shortstop,” said Firth. “I don’t actually know that much about the sport of softball. I just learn as I go. I just said, ‘OK, cool.’ When he starting explaining things to me, he said you put your best athlete there. I basically have free rein to get to everything I can get to. He took me in as somebody who didn’t know what they were doing and has helped me every step of the way. He really cares about what he does.
“It is a bit difficult, but I just give it my all in practice and that’s all that I can really do.”
While she is a following a family tradition of her father and grandfather playing the position in baseball, Firth is at a distinct disadvantage by not being a year-round travel playing like counterparts of most rivals in the Suburban One League.
“The shortstop should be someone who is knowledgeable of the game and who is experienced,” said Marchok, who coached high school baseball for several years and also travel softball at a high level. “Erin is a competitor and is athletic as heck, but she doesn’t have hundreds of days of experience like some other shortstops. But, what she has, is that spirit and that leadership. She is, unquestionably, the right person for that spot for us. She provides the leadership, the maturity and the calmness that you need in the center of the storm right now.”
Shortstop is also where her natural leadership skills can be on full display.
“I can’t say enough about this kid,” said Marchok. “She is one of those lead-by-example people. At age 17 and 18, especially at a small high school, it is easy to let a little bit of success give them a big head. Not Erin Firth, though. … She just keeps her mouth shut, works hard and shows everyone else how it’s supposed to be done. She doesn’t tell them, she shows them.”
Sticking with It
Firth’s most athletic success at New Hope-Solebury came as a member of the field hockey team that enjoyed postseason success and repeated trips to the state playoffs.
Firth credits coach Gwen Smith for being a role model.
“She made a huge impact on my life, and helped me to develop as both an athlete and as a person,” said Firth, who began playing the sport in 7th grade. “The culture she creates on her team is like no other, as long as you are willing to accept it.”
For Smith, who approached Firth about playing field hockey after learning she was an excellent ice hockey player and standout all-around athlete, sees that impact as a two-way street.
“She is such a humble, caring person,” said Smith. “When she would see somebody on our team having a hard time, she would always be the one to go over to them and talk to them. She always helped people out on the field, helped direct them. She was never one of those yellers. She was always a come along side kind of person but always held the high standards. It wasn’t like she lowered her standards.
“She’s an exceptional athlete, but she’s an exceptional person.”
Following in the skated path of older brother -- Matt, 22 -- Firth took up ice hockey. She only played a handful of games for the school team – her parents, Mary and Mike, were reticent because it was co-ed – she has stood out on the club level and thanks her coach Frank Reago for his guidance.
“My brother is reason I got into ice hockey,” said Firth. “He’s a big reason I’m the athlete I am today.”
Firth, who wanted to extend thanks to her grandparents for their love and support, is involved in many activities – National Honor Society, Key Club, Peer Leadership – but says there has been something special about playing sports and building bonds.
“I also want to thank all my teammates, whether it’s my ice hockey teammates from different schools or all my school teammates,” she said. “Without them, it would not be nearly as enjoyable. I have made some amazing friendships through all my sport that I never otherwise would have created.”
According to Smith, that feeling from her teammates is mutual. For evidence, she pointed to when she had her players write things about one another.
“I think, honestly, the thing that is even bigger than anything is she is so highly respected by her peers,” she said. “You should hear the things my girls write about her: ‘She’s the nicest, most genuine person I’ve ever met.’ That’s coming from her peers. … Kids like that are sometimes just not relatable, but she is so humble. She’s so ridiculously good at everything, but you would never know it. She’s so humble, and I think people are blown away by that.”
Rising Above
Firth admits it is not always easy to follow her motto – be kind – but it is a challenge, like playing shortstop, that she takes seriously.
Being of New England roots, she absorbed playful jabbing before – and especially after -- Super Bowl LII.
“It was not very fun,” she said. “I did have one or two other friends who were also Patriots fans. We spent a lot of that time together. The day after was not very enjoyable. I did have a lot of people rubbing it in my face. That was not particularly fun, but I do always remind them that we have more Super Bowl wins than they do. That usually gets them to quiet down a little bit.”
There are other times when real life situations also require a wisdom beyond her years.
“There are definitely times when it can be difficult,” she said. “When that happens, I remove myself from the situation so that I won’t do something I will regret. The way I think kind of makes me very quiet. When I’m in situations like that, I don’t want to say something I’ll regret.
“For the most part, I’m able to recognize that I don’t know what is going on in everybody’s life. I can’t really be one to judge. I don’t know what they are struggling with, and they don’t know what I’m struggling with.”
This maturity level was not lost on her coaches.
Said Smith: “She’s mature beyond her years. She’s easy with adults, but when it comes down to a kid that is that’s also totally respected by her peers, I think that’s an exceptional feat. Some kids only relate to adults, and they can’t relate to their peers. She’s got a great balance.”
A lover of nature, Firth is going to miss not only her friends but all that the scenic New Hope-Lambertville area has to offer.
She will get some time off from the Air Force – a few days around holidays, for example – but she will be a long way from family and friends.
She leaves in June, within a week after graduation
“My last few weeks of school, I’m going to be focusing on my friendships and getting in my last moments with them,” she said. “I’m going to be leaving New Hope. It’s sad, because it’s such a beautiful area. I’ll have to spend some time doing some of my favorite things before I leave.”
