FREDERICKTOWN – Alyssa Perkins has known where she wants to go to college since she was 9 years old.
On Friday, May 14, she announced that decision in a ceremony at Fredericktown High School. The softball pitcher will be heading to Ohio Wesleyan University.
How did she know at such a young age?
“When I was 9, I decided I wanted to pitch,” Perkins said. “So I went to a camp there. As soon as I saw the campus, I told my parents, ‘This is where I’m going to college when I get older.’ Of course, my parents laughed, like, ‘Oh, yeah. You’ve got a long time to decide.’ But as time passed, I kept looking back. That’s just the campus for me.”
She was attracted by the small class sizes, and she hit it off with Ohio Wesleyan’s coach Cassie Cunningham.
“She’s always just very kind,” Perkins said. “But you could tell that she was into the game and knew what she was talking about, which was something that I was very glad to see.”
One thing that attracted Perkins to OWU was Cunningham’s approach to athletics and academics.
“She (says) that school comes first, then family and then softball — which is something that I’m looking for because I’m going into psychology,” Perkins said. “I don’t want to have all of my time taken up with practice and games.”
“Knowing her as a person and her family — I knew that she would be a great fit at OWU from a teammate and a personality standpoint,” Cunningham said. “Her academics are outstanding; we have what she needs academically.”
With the COVID-19 pandemic impacting the way college coaches can recruit, Cunningham had to adjust to scouting via video.
“Her team livestreamed all of her games (last summer),” Cunningham said. “I got to watch her that way. I know this is going to sound silly, but it’s what we look for and I could even see it on video: she’s a great teammate.
“That’s something that’s tough to teach. You can teach skill, but you can’t teach somebody to be a good teammate. She’s a team player and she’s willing to do whatever she needs to make the team successful. She’s competitive, but she’s also the first person to help another teammate. That’s tough to teach; and when it comes across on video, that’s pretty legit.”
Perkins has been a valuable part of the Freddies’ softball team.
“She is just small, but mighty,” Fredericktown coach Montana Huvler said. “(In the circle), she’s small, but she works her tail off and has built so much speed and great movement on her pitches. She does not get super-emotional when she’s in charge. She just wants to own the circle.”
Being a part of a team is important to Perkins, especially after missing last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Coming into this season, I (felt) like I had to do everything I could to be the best for this team,” she said. “We have a great group of girls and we’re like family. We go out to breakfast together and have a whole bunch of fun. It’s nice to see all of us blend together.”
Huvler said the one-two punch of Perkins and Miranda Payne has been invaluable to the Freddies this season.
“They are just such a great compliment to one another,” Huvler said. “Miranda has a little bit of movement on her pitches, where Alyssa just has a perfection of location on her pitches.”
Perkins feels a sense of one-upmanship with Payne. But it’s that sense of being a good teammate that makes the duo so formidable.
“I’m not going be here next year, so I really want her to feel super-confident knowing that she owns that circle every time she goes in,” Perkins said. “Every time she’s in, I’ve gotta have her back because that’s how I want to feel when I’m pitching.”
