When Summer Shockley accepted a job as Three Rivers’ pitching coach this season, it came with one potential problem. Her sister Morgan Shockley was coming back for her second year with the program.
“It’s not so difficult for me. It’s more difficult, probably, for Summer and Morgan. You don’t want your big sister telling you what to do or yelling at you in front of everybody,” Three Rivers coach Jeff Null said. “I never worried about Morgan. She’s a mature kid, and I knew she could handle what we threw at her. I never worried about Summer because I knew she is mature and could handle it. Kudos to their mom for raising them that way. Not every kid could handle that.”
Bringing Summer onboard has been a great help to the program. After pitching at the University of Missouri, she returns with more knowledge of pitching mechanics than anybody on the all-male coaching staff. Having a woman on staff and just a year or two older than the players gives the Raiders someone to talk to when they don’t want to go to the male coaches.
The sisters fought growing up, as siblings do. Morgan would wear Summer’s clothes or tattle on Summer about something Morgan did. But they played on the same team consistently growing up. Morgan, two years younger, always played up on Summer’s teams.
When Summer left for Mizzou as Morgan entered her senior season with Van Buren, it was the first time they’d been apart.
As a coach, Summer has been thrust into a difficult spot. She’s basically the same age as the roster, but also an authority figure for her sister.
“We argue a lot whenever we critique each other, so as her coach, I try to leave that to coach (Jason) Gwin and coach Null and try to be her friend more compared to the other girls,” Summer said.
At the same time, Morgan has her sister’s back when other players aren’t happy.
”As a younger sister, I’m super protective of her. So when the girls get attitude, it puts a fire under my butt, and it ticks me off. I’ll get on them quick because it makes me so mad,” Morgan said. “Even though she is not that old, we still have to have respect because she is (a coach), and she knows a lot more than all of us about the game. She’s here to better us, and she has tremendously.”
With Shockley on staff, Three Rivers’ five pitchers have a combined ERA of 2.55 and average 7.14 strikeouts per game. Perhaps nobody has benefited more than Makale Floyd.
After refining her mechanics with Shockley’s help, Floyd has not allowed more than one run in her past six starts. At the beginning of the season, Floyd allowed eight runs in her first 10 innings of work out of the bullpen. Yet is was her on the mound to clinch both the region and district titles.
On the field, Summer may come across as the old coach, but the sisters are often mistaken for twins off the field.
“It’s also a cool dynamic to be together and spend that time,” Summer said. “Not many people get to say we played together for however many years, and I also get to coach her at the national tournament.”
Scott Borkgren - Daily American Republic