Winning a gold medal in Peru was just a stepping stone for Lily Pullen. After the Pan American Championship in Peru this past April, Pullen was in Japan this past weekend playing in the Utsugi Cup held in Takasaki City.
Pullen, a-soon-to-be-freshmen at Oskaloosa High School, knew at a very young age she loved the game of softball. What she didn’t know was that her love of the game would have to continue without her favorite coach and fan, her dad Brian.
Brian started coaching Lily’s first competitive softball team at Mid-America Ball Park in Shawnee when she was just eight years old. He took a short break when she switched teams to Attitude and then when she was 10 he started his own team, PSA Velocity.
In 2018, Brian was diagnosed with stage four appendix cancer. He passed in November 2021.
As hard as it was to move forward, Pullen and her mom, Laura, picked up the pieces of her broken dream and continued down the path Brian himself laid out for her.
Exactly one year and one day after his passing the mother-daughter duo loaded up and hit the road to a competitive tryout in Mesquite, Texas.
“I asked her, how do you want to remember Daddy?” Laura said. Trying out again was her answer.
“When we decided to try out again, we knew they were looking for the elite of the elite. We just wanted to know where she fit on the spectrum before we jumped in too far,” Laura stated.
Lily’s first real adventure into the competitive level she is at now started with the All American 12-U team in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. The team played in Oklahoma City, which was still an open state at the time.
Lily first tried out for the USA Softball High Performance Program in the KC area. The organization was in the process of moving from the Junior Olympic team to what it is now.
“They just didn’t really know what direction to move it,” Laura said. “It was a whole revamp of the program. New Olympic evaluators, new coaches, and all of sudden everything just kind of piddled out. No team came out of it.”
Lily was undeterred in the process and continued to try harder for the following year. She made the first cut and was asked to try out yet again. The second cut of girls would become the roster headed for Peru to play in the Pan American Championship.
It took about a month before Lily heard the news that she made the team, the only left-handed pitcher accepted on the Team USA 15-U roster.
After the week in Japan at the Utsugi Cup, Lily will once again await the news to see if she qualifies to play in the World Cup Championships in October.
While the road to Peru was rough, it was also more than worth it when Pullen and her teammates went undefeated in the tournament, outscoring the international competition 133-0, capturing the gold medal.
The trip to Peru was a list of firsts for Lily. She had never been on a plane before and didn’t know most of the girls she would soon be rooming and playing with.
The USA softball team was assembled from girls all across the United States. Rules were a little different on the international side of competition. The biggest one for Lily was, in America the pitchers mound is 43 feet from home plate, in Peru it was only 40.
Each country represented at the tournament also had their own umpire who spoke their native language, except the U.S.
“When our coaches wanted to argue a call, they had to go out with a translator who would then talk to the umpire.” Lily said. When not on the field, they relied on Google Translate to help them understand what was being said and to order meals at restaurants.
Lily and her teammates played four games of pool play in the Pan American Championship before moving into bracket play.
On April 2, they took on the team from Peru winning 10-0. The following day, they battled Columbia, winning 8-0.
Day three of the competition saw Team USA defeat Team WBCS (Guatemala) winning 25-0. The last day of bracket play resulted in a 15-0 win over Brazil.
Pullen’s first trip to the mound happened against team Brazil. She pitched a no hitter and recorded the win for Team USA.
On April 6, the team advanced through bracket play. In the first round match-up, they defeated Puerto Rico 15-0, followed by a back-to-back game against Venezuela. The team again emerged victorious 17-0.
The only two undefeated teams, Team USA and Mexico, then faced off for the best two out of three games. Team USA captured the gold, defeating Mexico 14-0 and then 9-0.
Lily pitched a complete game in the first win over the Mexico team.
“We had four pitchers, so we had to split between games.” Lily said. According to her coach, she was saved for game four of pool play against Brazil since the team had a lot of left-handed slap hitters and bunters.
Only the top three teams of the Pan American tournament will advance to the World Cup play in October. Those teams are currently Team USA, Puerto Rico, and Mexico.
Playing in the Utsugi Cup this week was a chance to see a different level of competition before the October finale.
Once finished, the top girls on the roster in Peru along with the top from the roster in Japan, will be invited to play in the World Cup.
Pullen and her mom are both hopeful Lily will make the cut being the only left-handed pitcher on both rosters. When not pitching, Lily also plays first base and outfield when necessary.
The Pullen’s left for Japan May 28. They stayed one day in Los Angeles before boarding the 16-hour flight abroad. Competition took place June 2-4. First day of competition was June 3 against Italy, followed by China.
Other teams in Group B of the tournament include Japan, Mexico, and Tanzania. The championship match took place June 4.
There will be no rest for Lily when she arrives back state side, as the Tulsa Elite Tournament begins the following day, June 6.
Lily gives credit to the McLouth Bulldogs head softball coach and Patterson Sports Academy owner, Ballard Patterson, for also giving her a softball start.
“Patterson would call her a freak of nature and say how we just need to harness her talent.” Laura said.
Lily attended both hitting and pitching lessons with Patterson a minimum of two to three times a week to hone and perfect her skills. Now that her schedule has gotten busier she has had to cut them back.
“My favorite thing about softball is getting to travel and meeting a lot of new people.” Lily said. “I was invited by the world’s fastest pitcher, Monica Abbott, to a personal camp. I got to pitch with her and train one-on-one and learn new skills from her.”
Abbott, is a retired American professional softball player. She was an All-American pitcher for the Tennessee Lady Volunteers in college before starting her professional career in the National Pro Fastpitch (NPF) and the Japan Softball League. She played for Team USA from 2005 and won a silver medal in the 2008 and 2020 summer olympics.
While the association covers the cost of Lily’s trip, Laura’s portion is 100 percent her responsibility.
“The community stepped up like no other when Brian passed.” Laura stated. “We will never be able to repay them.”
Lily stated she was receiving support from people she had never even met before, along with friends and neighboring towns. Source: Jeff County News