How awesome is it when you grow up rooting for a high-profile program and that school ends up offering you before you’ve thrown one pitch in high school!

That’s the story of today’s spotlight athlete who actually impressed her dream school when she went to the Big Ten school’s camp… with a broken wrist! Her willingness to compete no matter what the difficulty was one of the things that first got her noticed and now knows she won’t have to leave the state to play college ball…

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Name: BAILEY PARSHALL
High School: Belle Vernon Area
City: Belle Vernon
State: Pa.
Grad year: 2018
Club: Ohio Outlaws – Morrison
Position(s): P/1B/OF
GPA: 3.6
Height: 5-7

School Stats: Yet to throw a pitch in high school yet, Bailey had a big 8^th grade year with 207 K’s for the season.
Club Highlights: led her teams to the wins in the following tournaments in 2014: 16U—Memorial Day NIT, USSSA Western Pennsylvania State Championship; 14U—Fire in the Sky, USSSA Eastern National Championship.

Pitches: fastball, screw, curve and change.

Overcoming Obstacles: During the 2014 season Bailey overcame two severe injuries, a broken right wrist in July when she slipped and fell while playing miniature golf (ouch) and a week before Christmas she suffered a serious dog bite to her face while at a sleepover. The bite severed her tear duct and Bailey needed 12 hours of surgery to her lip and eye at Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh. The freshman needed to have a stint inserted into the tear duct of her left eye and has almost fully recovered from the traumatic ordeal.

Off the Field: Bailey does volunteer work for Toys for Tots during the holiday season.

College: Penn State
Why the Nittany Lions? The athlete’s father, Kelly, told Full Count Softball earlier today: “She committed to Penn State on October 17 which was a Friday night. The coaches had offered the Wednesday before after she went to a camp/clinic. They offered that night and she accepted two nights later. Her mother is an alum and graduated from there so she’s extremely happy and we had been there several times as well. It was one of Bailey’s top schools that she was interested in and when she submitted a list of favorite schools to Coach Wolff, Penn State was No. 1.”

Other Schools Interested: Bailey had interest from local D1’s in Pittsburg including St. Francis, Pitt and Robert Morris, but once PSU offered she quickly committed. “Pitt had watched her in July, but the coach who watched her took a head job somewhere else,” adds her father.

Where PSU First Saw Her: “Their coaches had attended local camps and Bailey got their attention at one of those,” explains her father. “Later, even though she had broken her arm Bailey was able to go to the clinic and performed very well there. Penn State didn’t waste any time jumping in and recruiting her after that.”

What Position at PSU? “Penn State recruited her primarily as a left-handed pitcher,” Kelly Parshall continues. “Bailey does hit: she slaps and drags and on our travel team is the No. 2 hitter since she can move the runners. She’s a line drive hitter, but honestly we never got into hitting when talking to Penn State.

Coach’s Comments: “This kid is a tough lefty with great movement. She’s a cool, calm, and collect young lady who throws in the low 60’s. Her screwball is phenomenal and her control makes her really tough. Bailey is a great kid, she doesn’t give up hits and she can work up and down in the zone. She also wins the big games and is a workhorse, but she can hit also.” – Warren Wolf, Ohio Outlaws President & Recruiting Coordinator