Coal City – Piper Parks has been around softball all nine years off her life.
Her sister Kaylen, an Independence graduate, was the Class AA first-team all-state captain in 2021 and her dad Billie helps coach Indy as an assistant.
Having played since she was four years old, she knew she wanted to continue playing against quality competition with a staff that’s proven to nurture talented softball players in the area. So she approached Independence graduate Brittany Meadows and Shady Spring graduate Mackenzie Milam, both of whom coached her older sister, and asked if they’d put together a team.
“I knew how good Brittany and Mackenzie were at coaching,” Parks said. “I knew how good they made my sister and I just wanted to be like her and I wanted my team to have that experience too.”
Milam and Meadows have coached travel ball teams together for years and at Parks’ request they formed the West Virginia Empire in 2021, a 10u travel softball team that aims to improve the quality of and develop softball talent in the area by exposing them to higher levels of competition.
“Piper gave us the sad eyes and asked if we would coach her,” Meadows said. “They needed some better competition and they didn’t want a daddy ball coach and where we don’t have any kids on the team it was pretty much as fair as you can get. You’ve got to get out of Beckley to get some competition and the parents have bought into it.”
Parks’ vote of confidence came from her sister Kaylen’s experience growing with the two but their body of work speaks for itself. At one point the duo was in charge of a team that featured four all-staters from this past season – Delaney Buckland (Independence), Paige Maynard (Shady Spring), Olivia Hylton (Wyoming East) and Paige Laxton (Wyoming East).
Much like their previous teams, the Empire is made up of kids from all over Raleigh County as well as some from Wyoming County.
This summer’s roster is comprised of Sadie Branham, Paisley Campbell, Aaliyah Duncan, Arrihanna Hicks, Ella Hylton, Piper Parks, Penelope Parris Kayslee Pennington, Charlotte Shea, Aubrey Whitt, Bailey Boothe and Kailyn Williams.
As a duo that grew up in the area it’s been important for Meadows and Milam to nurture the talent coming through the surrounding areas, making sure Southern West Virginia can represent on a statewide level.
“This is the area we grew up in and we want to see it do well,” Meadows said. “Putting back in the community just kind of makes you feel you’ve helped as much as you could. Some of the kids we coached just finished high school and you could see from start to finish how far they’ve come so it does make you a little emotional seeing big strides like that.”
The success of their earlier groups has given them hope for this one which features several relatives of the aforementioned players. Piper is the younger sister of Kaylen, Ella Hylton is the younger sister of Olivia Hylton and Sadie Branham is the cousin of Wyoming East graduate Holly Brehm, a four-time first-team all-stater.
“You can see these kids have come a long way in the year we’ve had them,” Meadows said. “You can also tell which ones have the drive and the work ethic and will one day be an all-state player. There’s quite a few on this team, I think. They also see that they’re getting better. For some of them you can see they have the same type of drive as their older siblings but they also have a little difference and working with them they know what to expect and that we’re going to be hard on them. It’s different but it’s nice.”
“They love it and look forward to coming to every practice,” Milam added. “Their parents say it’s all they talk about and it’s so cute. Piper watched us coach Kaylen. She was here when she was three, running around during practices.”
While the wins and losses are less consequential right now, the goal for the Empire is to take steps in the right direction and build a strong base of fundamentals to serve as foundation to grow their game upon. It’s a work in progress for a younger group but there’s another positive consequence Meadows and Milam called upon from their own experiences.
“I like seeing them enjoy it and have fun,” Milam said. “They grow and build relationships with each other. The travel team I played with throughout middle school and high school, I still talk to those girls every day.”
“It’s a long lasting friendship for sure,” Meadows said. “They’ll remember more of the positive memories and the laughs more than the laps from running.”
