Seventh grader Piper Corey is being recognized for her work on the middle school softball team. In the previous game, she hit a homerun for her team, helping out tremendously. This is Corey’s first year playing on the Horizon Honors’ team, but she has played seven years outside of school as she makes “a lot of friends in it and can have fun.” She loves the sport and plays anywhere she can, “but playing for the school is a great honor and  representing your school is awesome.”

From age 5 to age 10, Corey played in the Chandler girls’ softball league. Then she switched to club softball with the Arizona Bandits, and then moved on to play with Vendetta Arizona softball and got to go to the TCS (Triple Crown Sports) World Series. She typically plays second base, but at school she plays shortstop. Throughout the seven years she has played softball, Corey has never played any other sport; she says she only wants to play softball. She would like to do something with it later on and she is hoping to play Division I college softball. Corey plans to achieve that by “practicing and giving it [her] all.” She says her strengths are throwing and hitting, but her weaknesses are often not staying focused and being too critical about herself.

Corey is inspired by professional softball player Dallas Escobedo, who played for Arizona State University (ASU). Escobedo was an amazing pitcher who went to the Women’s College World Series three times and was nominated for the Best Female College Athlete ESPY award. “Escobedo is really good and I want to be just like her someday,” says Corey. Corey loves making new friends and says,”When you play a team sport you spend a lot of time together, so my teammates have become some of my best friends and these are friendships that will last a very long time.” Overall, Corey enjoys playing for her school and wants to keep at it for a long time.