Auburn-bound Justus Perry, a 2016 infielder from Prior Lake High in Minnesota, hit the road with her Birmingham Thunderbolts 97 team to play in the prestigious PGF 16U Nationals, which wrap-up Friday in Irvine, Calif..
Justus and her father regularly travel the 2,000 mile round-trip to and from Birmingham, Ala. to practice and play with the Bolts and in today’s blog she talks about how special the experience has been, even though the team was eliminated Thursday morning by the Lady Magic.
Perry has been a 2nd team “AAA” All-State selection the last two years for one of the state’s top teams and had originally committed to Arizona State, but with the coaching change and Clint Myers now at Auburn, she’s headed to the SEC and will play in the same state where her club team practices.
Also, last summer at the PGF Nationals we met the talented sophomore and learned about an unusual talent she has for being able to take any word and immediately repeat it backwards! Check out this video to see Justus in action!
Also, be sure to follow Justus’ blogs and all those from our other great bloggers!
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As we neared the end of our season, our last stop was Huntington Beach, Calif. for PGF Nationals.
My team and I were very excited and we enjoyed our entire week including one game where we trailed by two and were down to the last strike but won on a walk-off two-run hit!
Now that we’re at the end of our run, I took a look back at my entire summer.
The grueling hours of practice, the baking hot sun, and the massive amount of sweat and tears. Along with that, the entire summer, I did not return to Minnesota once.
I miss a lot of my friends, but the sacrifice was definitely worth it. I gained some of the best teammates, and friends that I will never forget for the rest of my life.
Upon returning to Minnesota, I will be bringing one of my teammates, Kaylee Horton, home with me. It will be quite a culture shock for her, as she has lived in a small town in Alabama her entire life.
The entire summer, her and her family let me stay at their house, and travel back and forth to practice, and games with them. I was truly blessed to have them as a second family in Alabama, and not many people can say that.
I got to know my future roommate at Auburn, Ashlee Swindle, a pitcher for our team and KK Crocker, our third baseman and future teammate of mine at Auburn. I saw them everyday from 8 am-12 pm, then 1-4 pm for practice, which allowed all three of us to become much closer.
This made a huge impact on me, because we will be teammates in college for the next four years and to already start building these inseparable bonds is very rare, and one that should be cherished.
I cannot wait for what the future holds and if next year that means not returning home all summer again, I would do it in a heartbeat.
Having friendships that never go away was probably the biggest impact of my entire summer. These group of ladies I play with are something special.
True athletes, and true friends.
” s’ereht a niatrec epyt fo evol uoy poleved rof eht emag, dna s’ereht eht evol uoy poleved rof ruoy settamaet. htob gnitsalreve, dna elbategrofnu.”
–Justus Perry (@Justus_Perry18)