Park happy to be back in Troy, ready to win

The Pike Liberal Arts Lady Patriots softball team is coming off a season where they advanced to the AISA AAA state softball tournament.

Things will be a little different at Mendy Avant field this year, but the Lady Patriots are hoping to find success under new head coach Allie Park.

Park is a native of Troy, but she took a roundabout way of landing her first coaching job in Pike County. Park played softball at Charles Henderson, where she graduated in 2005. After going off to college to play softball in St. Louis, Park coached for a number of years in Missouri before returning to Alabama as the coach of Hooper Academy.

Park was the coach of the Lady Colts last year before coming to Pike Liberal. “I always wanted to coach,” Park said. “I coached in St. Louis where I played college ball, but, when the opportunity to coach closer to home came up, I had to take it. I know the people here. I know all my players’ families. This is where I want to be.”

Though the Lady Patriots have only been practicing for two weeks, Park thinks she has a contender. “We’re at the end of our second week of practice,” Park said. “The girls have been working hard, even through all this cold weather. We have a lot of girls back from last year. We have four seniors on the varsity team and a lot of sophomores who are already good leaders.”

This year, it won’t be enough for the Lady Patriots to merely make the state tournament. Park and her team want to leave their mark on the tournament and the school. “For both the JV and the varsity, the girls made it a team goal to make the state tournament,” Park said. “But, it’s more than just making the tournament. We want to actually accomplish something—win a few games. We’re trying to build a softball program that can leave a legacy. Pike has always had a strong softball program, but we want to do something special.”

Building that legacy is something that Park hopes happens over her tenure as coach. “I really just want to focus on building up the girls’ program here at Pike,” Park said. “The boys get a lot of attention, and rightfully so. We want to start to build up our own reputation and leave our own legacy. We want to get people talking about Pike softball. In order to do that we have to focus on being the best team we can be.”

The Lady Patriots open their season on Feb. 17.