Desire To Be Great - Avery Parker Leads Hoosiers in Final Season
Pete DiPrimio | IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- The Indiana softball moment arrives to end it and Avery Parker is ready.
Boy, is the senior catcher ready.
Parker stands in the Andy Mohr Field batter’s box, the pitch count in her favor, a fierce wind blowing out, two runners on base, the Hoosiers one run away from a three-game-series-opening, run-rule victory over Rutgers.
That wind brings an element of uncertainty even with IU’s 9-2 lead. Hoosier pitchers Taylor Hess and Brooke Mannon have allowed just two hits, but what might have been a Rutgers harmless fifth-inning fly ball carries over the fence for a two-run home run.
Indiana turns back the mini adversity by scoring three times in the bottom of the fifth for that seven-run lead. One more run delivers a fourth straight victory.
Parker, All-Big Ten in academics as well as athletics, sees three consecutive balls. She does not want to see a fourth. Scarlet Knights pitcher Brooke Shifflett does not want to give her one. She fires a pitch over the plate and Parker blasts it 300 feet to right center, well beyond Andy Mohr Field’s 220-foot fence. Her ninth homer of the season and the 43rd of her career ends the game in a 12-2 score and ignites a celebration and, ultimately, a series victory.
“I was looking for my pitch -- one pitch -- in that count,” Parker says. “She served it up right where I wanted it, so I was ready to mash that. If it was anywhere else, I was willing to take the walk. In that situation, you’re up by a lot, you’re willing to take more aggressive swings in certain situations.
Was it a fastball?
“On film, it looked like a drop ball, but it looked down the middle to me,” Parker says with a laugh.
This is no surprise. Parker will leave IU as the program’s career home run leader. She adds her 10th homer in Saturday’s 6-1 victory. With 44 career homers, she’s one ahead of Brianna Copeland and one behind Taylor Minnick for the Hoosier record.
“I’m trying not to think about it a lot,” she says. “When you try too hard, you don't always get it when you want it. I’m trying to stay where I’m at.”
Where Parker is at, coach Shonda Stanton, is special.
“She’s a rat,” Stanton says. “She puts in the work. She’s built the engine. She’s incredibly strong. In the weight room, she pushes weight and she moves it fast and explosively, so when she catches barrel, she’s blasting it.”
Stanton considers the distance of Parker’s walk-off homer.
“That was a blast.”
So is Parker’s Saturday home run, which hits the Andy Mohr Field scoreboard beyond left field. It’s another reflection of power honed by weight room dedication that started as a freshman at Westfield High School near Indianapolis.
“We had a great weight program in my high school,” she says, “and when I got to Indiana, we had an even better one.
“(Weight lifting) has always been engraved in my brain. My older brother played football and set the example there. It’s always fun to see your (lifting) numbers increasing and your work translate onto the field.”
Why softball? Parker smiles just thinking about it.
“My favorite days are the days I have a bat in my hand,” she says. “There’s nothing better than seeing your teammates succeed and being competitive. Having your own moments and also having team moments at the same time. I love everything about it.”
Love has paid off. Parker has excelled from the moment she became a Hoosier after an all-state career at Westfield High School that included school records for average in a season (.588) and a career (.538).
Parker was an instant college force -- a .304 average with 10 home runs and 37 runs batted in as a freshman, .313 with 13 homers and 44 RBI as a sophomore, and .392 with 11 homers and 60 RBI as a junior.
This year she’s hitting .417 with a team-co-leading 10 homers and 34 RBI.
“We’ve had some tremendous hitters come through this program,” Stanton says. “She has quietly, consistently bashed. It’s the high average, the consistent high RBIs, the consistent double-digit bombs. When you’re talking about chasing Taylor Minnick and Bri Copeland in the home run department, that’s impressive.
“It’s her desire to be great, and the way she puts in the work.”
Parker credits teammates such as Hess and second baseman Aly Vanbrandt for her improvement.
“I had a lot of help from my teammates in improving certain qualities of myself. They’re always challenging me and I’m challenging them. I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t have Taylor or Aly on my side. That helps a lot.”
Beyond that, Parker helps manage a new pitching staff led by Hess, Mannon Ella Troutt and freshman Aubree Hooks.
“This the first year I’ve had so many new pitchers,” Parker says. “It was a challenge, but it’s great to change up what you’re doing. I’ve had so much fun with them outside of softball.
“Getting in the January reps were super helpful. Seeing how much they’ve developed since the fall.
“The transfers have bought into our culture. They see how I catch. They understand me a little more. The batteries all around are charged.”
The graduation of Minnick and Copeland from last year’s NCAA tourney team has meant a bigger leadership role. Parker has delivered.
“With Taylor and Bri gone, I had to step up in that role,” she says. “I’m trying to live up to what they did. That’s my motivation. I have personal goals for myself on top of that, plus the team goals.”
Parker adds that Minnick and Copeland set outstanding examples in doing things the right way.
“Taylor was the biggest worker you’ve ever seen. Watching her put in the work and see it translate to the field was like, ‘That’s what I can do.’
“With Bri, she made softball fun. She put in the work in the weight room.
“Having the combined work ethic in the weight room, in practice and outside of practice, and the way they competed, I want to embody what they did.”
As for being a team captain, Parker adds, “The last four years have led me to this. That experience feeds into my senior year.”
As for the Big Ten race, IU won two of three games series against Rutgers for a 21-6 record, 4-2 in the conference. It has a three-game series at Maryland next weekend, with series against UCLA, Purdue, Iowa, Michigan and Illinois to follow, as well as intriguing non-conference matchups against Notre Dame and Louisville.
“I’m looking forward to see where the rest of March and the rest of the season takes us,” Parker says.