By Nathan Ham
When the sweet spot of the bat meets the ball with perfect timing, every hitter knows it. They get to admire their handy work as the ball sails over the fence for a home run.
For a pair of Watauga High School softball players, it had a little more meaning to it.
In the fourth inning of Wednesday’s home game against Patton High School, senior Julia Parsons crushed a leadoff homer to the deepest part of the ballpark in left center. Later in the inning, sophomore Taylor Lipford blasted a three-run homer to the exact same part of the park.
In most games, no one would really think twice about that, but for Watauga fans that know how hard it is to get a home run out of that section of the ballpark, it’s a special feat for it to be done at all, let alone twice in the same inning.
Watauga’s softball field measures 201 feet down the right and left field lines and 217 to dead center, so hitting it out to the deepest part of the park is not something that happens a lot. In fact, according to former Watauga High School softball coach Brad Isaacs, he thinks it is the first time any team has ever hit homers out to the deepest part of the park in the same inning, Watauga or the visiting team, at the new high school or the old high school location.
“It was a great feeling hitting that home run on my home field, but then Taylor hitting another one a few batters later, that made it even more special,” said Parsons.
The Pioneers went on to win the game, 16-13.
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