Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Athletes Of The Year
Coach’s Daughter Excels Under Pressure
FARMINGTON — Callie Harper is accustomed to living with and living up to expectations a coach’s daughter encounters.
A two-sport competitor playing setter in volleyball and first base in softball, Harper is female Athlete of the Year for 2016 as selected by the Enterprise-Leader.
A higher standard is applied when Harper is involved in sports competition than what the average teenage athlete experiences because of who her father is. Harper’s dad is Farmington head baseball coach and assistant football coach Jay Harper.
Lofty expectations don’t bother Harper, she relishes each challenge and strives for excellence something she learned from her dad.
“His competitive streak, definitely it’s in me,” Harper said. “He’s taught me many things over the years, many things of course. He’s taught me my competitive edge. I get my competitive edge from him. I like to win. If I don’t, it bugs the heck out of me.”
Her coaches at Farmington like having that trait instilled in a player. Farmington volleyball coach Marshall Ward, who ran his offense through Harper’s capable hands as a setter, has described Harper as someone who wants to win and if she’s not winning, she will try to figure out how to get herself into position to win and then work towards that objective.
Playing first base for the softball team, Harper competed in 30 games as a junior, hitting .430 in 104 plate appearances with 93 at- bats, scoring 29 runs, belting 40 hits and driving 21 runs in.
Winning Bat
An opportunity to make a winning play came last spring during Harper’s junior softball season on opening day of the Farm- ington/Fayetteville annual softball tournament. With her dad looking on, Harper came up with a big bat as the Lady Cardinals pulled out a come-from-behind 6-5 victory over Pottsville on March 18. Harper provided early offense by blasting a solo homer to get Farmington on the board in the second inning.
“That was one of my best memories (from competing in high school athletics at Farmington),” Harper said. “When I hit my home run against Pottsville last year, he was there. He got to see it. He didn’t get to see very many of my games.”
Farmington trailed 5- 4 going into the bottom of the sixth after Pottsville captured the lead with a run in the top of the inning. The sixth inning began with a runner on second base with the tiebreaker rule in effect.
Harper singled to lead off keying a two-run inning by Farmington. With the score knotted at 5-5, she advanced to third, then scored the winning bunt.
At one point during her Lady Cardinal career as a sophomore, Harper was briefly coached by her dad in an unusual situation. Farmington head softball coach Randy Osnes typically coaches at third base with assistant softball coach Steve Morgan at first. Osnes was confined to the dugout after arguing a controversial call so Morgan went to third and Jay Harper came out of the stands to coach first.
Harper got on board and for a few minutes stood sideby-side with her dad at first base. She breaks into a big smile recalling the moment.
“My dad coached me at first base, that was so cool,” Harper said. “Coach Osnes got taken out of the game. My dad was there. He and Coach Osnes are really good friends. He was our first base coach over there for a little while. Who else’s dad would have been qualified? He was run on a squeeze
my coach for a second.”
“We like to keep it a father/ daughter relationship, not so much coach/daughter. That was really cool cause I got to experience it for a second.”
Harper has bonded with her dad in a special way through sports.
“I was his water girl in baseball forever,” Harper said, explaining the hands-on participation has given her an up-close perspective as she has observed her dad in the dug-out.
“Just seeing the players connect with him, the players love him,” Harper said. “He’s given me a baseball/ football family.”
Among the things he has trained Callie in, Jay Harper has prepared her to handle a defeat and Farmington suffered two the next day, including a heartbreaking, 9- 8, elimination from the tournament they hosted in a rematch with Pottsville.
“He always reminds me after a loss, it wasn’t meant to be,” Harper said. “I always think about things like that.”
Still, more often than not, Harper and the Lady Cardinals come out on top.