Home run-hitter. Base-stealer. The team’s best fielder.
Mallory Townsend, a junior at Cabrillo High School, does it all on the diamond for the three-time defending Los Padres League champion Conquistadores.
Townsend hit two home runs in a single game against Santa Ynez on March 22 en route to a 12-2 victory. The following game, she tallied three hits and two stolen bases in yet another big Cabrillo win.
“Mallory is very athletic,” Cabrillo head coach Adrian Abayari explained.
Townsend is a soccer-softball hybrid star at Cabrillo, but she prefers softball because of its individualistic nature.
“It’s more of a personal sport,” she explained.
On the Cabrillo varsity softball team since her freshman year, Townsend and Abayari agree that she’s matured quite a bit in three years.
“I’ve gained more confidence in myself,” Townsend noted. “I started to take practice a little more seriously. Last year, I feel like I was still there but I could’ve done more. I’ve matured a lot more this year.”
Reaping the benefits of that focus and hard work makes it all worth it. Townsend is seeing the ball well at the plate and making great contact, and that simply makes playing the sport a blast for her.
“It’s really fun and it keeps the game exciting,” Townsend said.
Off the diamond, Townsend serves a critical leadership role for her teammates, which has everything to do with her magnetic personality.
“Most players gravitate toward her,” coach Abayari said. “Behind the scenes, she’s a very funny, personable person who keeps it kind of loose. That’s needed on a team. She gives that relief of not being so serious all the time.”
Townsend is still deciding on what role softball will play in her life post-Cabrillo. She’s currently choosing between studying nursing at a U.S. Air Force academy and playing college softball. The idea to join the Air Force came about at the start of this school year.
“I was talking to one of my friends whose dad is in the Air Force, and we were talking about all the benefits of it: Free living, free schooling, and a chance to see the world,” Townsend said.
No doubt, the Cabrillo community will be excited to see what Townsend decides for her future. But for now, Townsend said she’s just focused on making the most of the Conqs’ softball season and defending their league title.
“Our team goal is to do what everyone expects not to do: four-peat as league champions,” Townsend said. “Everyone’s telling us, ‘You guys can’t do it.’ And we don’t know, but that’s what were trying to do, and we’re working hard every day.”
This article appears in Mar 31 – Apr 7, 2016.