Paige Hughes, Manheim Township, senior, catcher, third base, plans to attend Meredith College, Raleigh, North Carolina, and play softball
Do you expect to see action at both positions?
Hughes: We lost a few players last year. We had five seniors that played pretty crucial infield-outfield roles, one of them being a catcher. And so we're just trying to figure it out. We have a few strong girls that can play all the positions we need. So it's just going to be a matter of figuring out what combination works. So I could see catcher, I could see third base. I could play some first. I'm pretty move-around-able. You could say I move around a lot.
And you've played how many different positions during your career?
Hughes: Primarily third base. This will be my first year I really see a lot of catching time, yeah, but third base, I played a little bit of first my freshman season. Pretty much the corners for the most part.
How did you get started playing softball? And how have things gone since then?
Hughes: I started when I was probably 10. I played T-ball and stuff, and then I took a pretty long break. I moved around quite a few times when I was younger, so I didn't really stay in a sport consistently. But once I moved to PA when I was around 10, I joined a rec softball team, like township rec, and I kind of just loved it. I mean, my dad played baseball growing up, and I just kind of fell in love with it, and especially fell in love with catching. And I just kind of grew up through the rec program. I played travel ball for some teams around here, and I played for a national team out of Denver, PA -- Vanquish. I play for their 18U national team, and we travel around the country and play softball. And I just love spending time doing that. That's all I want to do.
How many siblings do you have, and how do they affect your softball playing?
Hughes: I have an older sister. She's a sophomore at Penn State, and she grew up playing soccer. So I started playing soccer pretty early on, and absolutely hated it. I was not about it at all. I played field hockey in middle school, and I just wasn't about it. I loved how softball was a team sport, but a little individualized. You have your self skills and kind of you use those to help your team. And I just love that aspect of it. My sister never played softball ever. So I think, I guess,maybe I thought I want to do something different that maybe impacted my choice a little bit.
They're quite different games. Soccer is a lot of running, and softball is stop-and-go and a lot of waiting, and then when the ball's hit to you, you have to be ready for it.
Hughes: I know. And I think I love that too. It's just a lot of quick, fast moments that happen. And I think that's part of the reason why I love it. Like the game can change in a matter of a second. It takes like one pitch, one hit, to change the total outlook of a game. And I think that's awesome. In soccer, you kind of have an idea of how a game is going to go based upon movements. And softball, you have no idea; it could be an off day; could be a good day. Like, you just don't know, it depends.
So what has you excited about this year's team?
Hughes: I think this year's Township varsity team is going to have a lot of fun. Like the seniors, we're all best friends. We've grown up playing rec ball together. We spent a lot of time together. We've been on varsity together since our freshman, sophomore seasons, and we've waited for this day to come for so many years. So we're gonna have a lot of fun, and our energy is awesome. And I think that's going to be an important part about our season and how we play. Just the amount of like energy we have in good vibes is way more than I think Township softball has had in a while. So I think that'll carry us a long way.
What have you added to your game coming into this season,
Hughes: I think I focused a lot on my offensive side. I've worked a lot on strength and just more power to my swing. The past two seasons, I've had pretty consistent offensive seasons, but I just kind of wanted to capitalize on that a little bit more. So in the off-season, I've worked a lot on my hitting and trying to get some more extra base hits. And I'm a base-hit swinger. I'm not a home run hitter. I'd love to hit some more home runs and some more extra-base hits, so that's what I've worked on the most -- trying to get more power off on my swing.
Do you have hobbies outside of softball?
Hughes: Yeah, I'm involved in a lot in school, actually, so that takes up a lot of my time. I do Mini-THON at my high school and Student Council and stuff. So that takes up most of my year. And I just love doing what normal teenagers do, probably like concerts and music and things like that. Yeah, but school takes up a lot of time.
Let's get into some other questions. What did you learn in school last week?
Hughes: Well, I learned a new unit in my AP Stats class. It's a lot about, basically, it showed me math can be like an English class. It's like we learned a unit about interpreting and using context of problems to answer questions. And I thought that was super strange, because I was like, I'm in a math class. Where are the numbers at? And they just weren't there. So that was kind of hard for me to conceptualize, but yeah, that's what I learned, and I have a test on it tomorrow.
So that answers my next question. What's coming up this week?
Hughes: I have an AP Stats test, and I have a long week of AP Bio ahead, because I have a test the next week, so it's going to be a lot of note taking and reviewing for that one. So yeah, lots of tests coming up in the future.
What's your favorite class, and what do you like about it?
Hughes: I love AP Gov, and that's my favorite class this year, but just history in general is my favorite. I'm also in an IB economics class, which is kind of an AP-style class, and economics has been super cool to learn this year, too.
What are you planning to study?
Hughes: I think I'm going end up doing business. Currently, I'm undecided. But yeah, I mean, my parents have both been in the business world. And the medical field, I'm not built for that. So I think I'm just going to use my people skills and learn how to be in business management or something like that.
How many AP classes are you taking this year?
Hughes: I'm in four, if you count my IB class, which they're on the same, like grade, I guess they're weighted the same, and then I'm in one honors English class.
Do you have a quote or motto, slogan that inspires you? What do you lean on for inspiration when you need it?
Hughes: I mean, I feel like I'm constantly telling myself to not take moments off. I have a travel coach that tells me to never take a pitch off. So I think it's important when you're doing something like softball or in school, you never take a moment off. I mean, you obviously need to take breaks and stuff like that, but don't take a moment to distract yourself. Be all in the moment. And I use that a lot in softball, especially playing the corners. It's important to make sure you're on every pitch, because, I mean when that pitch gets thrown and the ball's hit it could be shot right at you, and you need to be ready. So just not taking a pitch off. Like, don't take a moment off. Tell myself that a lot.
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