Originally, Missy Corral wasn’t on the American International Sports Team softball roster. This was back in November 2010, when she was gearing up for the Stanislaus softball season. Her teammate and roommate, Sara Locarnini, was asked to play for Team AIST Softball. At the time, she wasn’t sure.

Then, Locarnini was told ASIT Softball needed a catcher. This was when Corral’s name was thrown around. Soon enough, the two found themselves, literally, jumping around in their living room after they learned that they would continue being teammates in a tournament in Amsterdam. They had a similar reaction after their ASIT Softball team won that tournament, with Corral earning MVP honors.

“I think it couldn’t have ended in a more perfect way,” said Corral, who only returned from her Amsterdam trip early Thursday morning. “Winning the championship and getting the award, it was picture perfect.”

In the overseas tournament, she also had the game-winning RBI in the championship contest against a hybrid team made up of American and Netherlands players. The catcher then caught the final out. Afterwards, in the midst of celebrating a six-game undefeated run in the tournament with Locarnini and the other teammates, Corral was pushed forward to the middle of the softball diamond. She didn’t know why. She was given an award. She didn’t know what it was.

She only learned later that she had won the MVP award. Corral went 8-of-18 with a triple, a pair of doubles, a stolen base, eight RBIs and five runs scored.

In other words, she couldn’t have better scripted the ending to her competitive softball career. Only a few months ago, she ended her time with the Stanislaus team with a .344 batting average, nine doubles, three home runs and 19 RBIs in 36 conference games in her senior season, enough to land on the California Collegiate Athletic Association second-team. She was also considered one of the conference’s best catchers, throwing out 13 of 24 base-stealers.

That defensive prowess also showed in Amsterdam, where, her dad Larry Corral said, Missy blocked 14 strikes and threw out the runner each time. Besides being the catcher, she also spent time at third base.

Joining Missy and Locarnini, who has two seasons left at Stanislaus, was Missy’s dad. Larry was the one who took Missy, as a 10-year-old, to her first softball tournament in Columbus, Ohio. So it was only fitting that he took her to her last. And it was quite a trip for everyone involved.

“I couldn’t pass up this opportunity,” said Larry, who also had time to sightsee with Missy and Locarnini after the tournament, including a three-hour bike tour of Amsterdam. “I went with her to Columbus, Ohio, for her first tournament as a chaperone. Even though she’s 23, I told her, ‘I have to be your chaperone.’”

To contact Chhun Sun, e-mail csun@turlockjournal.com or call 634-9141 ext. 2041.