(Abarw.com/Allison Weirich Photo) LHHS junior Paige Lafferty leads the Lady Panthers in RBI from the leadoff spot. "Laffs" has been the complete player in 2012.
By: Merle Bertrand, Sportswriter
“When we first started this season, we said, ‘We are going to State.’ That was our definite plan from the beginning,” recalled Liberty Hill Lady Panthers shortstop Paige Lafferty. “Clearly, we’re on the right path because we have one more game till we’re in the state tournament, which is definitely what we wanted.”
Lafferty, a junior on a team loaded with senior talent, is a critical cog in a team that finds itself in the 3A Regional Finals, just two wins away from a date at Red McCombs Field on the UT campus.
Should the Lady Panthers punch their tickets to State on Saturday (May 26), it would be a thrilling birthday present to Lafferty who was born on that date in Austin.
Allison Paige Lafferty was the third of Pamela and Benjamin Lafferty’s four children. Named after local photographer extraordinaire and frequent Leader/LibertyHillSports.com contributor Allison Weirich, Lafferty pointed out that, “I am only called ‘Allison’ when I’m in trouble.”
Lafferty has an older sister, Lyndsay (24), a LHHS and Angelo State graduate; an older brother, Cole (20), a LHHS graduate currently attending Texas Tech; and a younger brother, Clayton, (15), a fellow student at LHHS.
“I couldn’t function without my little brother. He does so much for me,” Lafferty volunteered, thus giving Clayton plenty of leverage going forward.
A multi-sport athlete since early childhood, Lafferty has competed in softball, volleyball, basketball, track, cross country, and golf at various times throughout junior high school and high school.
Lafferty earned a Liberty Hill Female Athlete of the Year award in 7th Grade, and shared that same award with Cera Dixon one year later. She was named to the Academic All-District team in track her freshman year.
The one constant, however, has been her favorite sport, softball, where she was tabbed as a 1st team All-District honoree and has already been selected to appear in an all-star game in Colorado this summer.
“There’s not really an explanation. I just love playing softball more than all the other sports,” Lafferty declared. “I started T-ball when I was four. I played one season of that and then I got into Coach Pitch for maybe two (years), and then I have been playing softball since then, until I was nine.
“When I was ten, I started Select softball. A long time.”
A country music fan whose favorite type of food is Italian, Lafferty listed her favorite dish as “ICE CREAM” (her caps). She claims that, “I have no common sense and I trip over everything,” which, if true, is certainly not an issue on the softball field.
Lafferty acknowledged that she feels added pressure knowing that this is the last chance for her senior teammates to make the State Tournament.
“All of them are so supportive of all the underclassmen,” Lafferty declared of the seniors on the team. “They are always excited. In the dugout, they’re really supportive. Whenever you mess up or whatever, pretty much all of them will come to you and say something, get you back up into the game. They’re not just like, ‘Oh, my gosh! Why did you just do that!’
“They’re really supportive, so next year, that’s definitely how I want to be,” she added. “It’s going to be tough next year, but we’re just trying to achieve our goal this year. There’s a lot of other pressure but we know that we have so many senior leaders that it’s not put onto us as much.”
Well-aware that she plays softball in such a sports-crazed community as Liberty Hill, Lafferty appreciates the challenge.
“It’s really exciting,” Lafferty enthused. “I love whenever you get so many people that come to the games, it gets you so pumped up and ready for the game.
“Clearly, everyone in Liberty Hill loves sports. Liberty Hill softball is so much fun. I’m going to miss it after next year, but all the fans are really supportive, all the coaches, definitely. It’s a really good experience.”
When not playing softball, Lafferty enjoys hunting, fishing, four-wheeling, badminton, watching Rollie Pollies try to flip over, and shopping.
On the flip side, she is not a fan of white vans, clowns and roller coasters.
With her senior year at LHHS still to come, Lafferty has already decided that she plans on playing softball in college and hopes to coach some day.
But for now, there’s still work to be done for Lafferty and her Elite Eight-qualifying teammates.
“The team is looking really good right now,” Lafferty observed. “Last year, our team continuity was not that great, but this year we are all getting along really good.
“We wish we could play really soon instead of having to wait for another week,” she grumbled. “Sitting there, having to have three days of practice, and then have to play. We wish we could just play, like, on Tuesday, or something.”
Lafferty knows, however, that this weekend’s Regional Final series against Columbia – victors over LHHS district-mate Lampasas last weekend – will get here soon enough.
“We can definitely do it. We were all really nervous against that Sweeny team, but we know that we all just have to play together just as we have been for this next team,” Lafferty declared. “But we can definitely do it. We just have to play our game.
“I love all three of those coaches,” Lafferty continued. “They put so much time and effort into our team, you can definitely tell. All the fans, of course, they’re all supportive, the parents, definitely. We just want to get to that State Tournament. That’s all we want right now.”
If the Liberty Hill Lady Panthers do defeat Columbia to make the Big Show in Austin, it will be a birthday to remember for Allison Paige Lafferty.
