This is one in a series of articles highlighting some of the best players in the area heading into the 2022 high school softball season.
FRILLS CORNERS, Pa. (EYT/D9) — Emma and Madison McFarland are twins. So identical, it’s difficult for most people who do not know them well to tell them apart.
But on the softball field, identifying them is easy — they couldn’t be more different.
(Madison McFarland, left, and her twin sister, Emma McFarland)
Emma is a left-handed batter who uses her speed to reach base. An expert at bunting and at slap hitting — a dying art on the high school softball diamond — the junior from Frills Corners, who plays basketball at North Clarion, but softball at Forest Area, sets the table for the Fires.
Madison clears it.
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A right-handed hitter, Madison has more thump in her bat and uses it to drive in runs by the bunches — she had an 11-RBI game last season against Union.
Emma plays center field; Madison plays shortstop and sometimes catches. Emma throws left-handed; Madison has a powerful right arm.
“We’re complete opposites,” Emma said.
The numbers they produce, though, are similarly impressive.
Last year as sophomores, Emma batted .525 with a homer, two triples and 23 runs scored, while Madison hit 413 with three homers, a double, five triples, 27 RBIs and 29 runs scored.
They formed a dynamic duo for Forest, a team blended from three schools: North Clarion and East and West Forest.
Madison admits it is a bit strange to play basketball at one place, North Clarion, and then switch gears — and uniform colors — to play softball for a different school.
“Luckily we’re friends with the girls outside of (North Clarion),” Madison said. “It kind of helps with the communication part of it, and in games and practices.”
“Yeah, it is a little strange,” Emma added. “In basketball, you’re playing strictly with the girls in your school. When you switch over to softball, you still have some of those teammates on the basketball team, and then you have other from other schools. That’s kind of weird, because most schools you play with the same girls all the time.”
It’s out of necessity. None of the three schools would have a softball program had they not joined forces to form the Fires.
Emma and Madison are grateful for that merging. Otherwise, the juniors may not have been able to showcase their plethora of skills last year after missing out on their freshman seasons due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We wouldn’t have the numbers for a softball team at North Clarion. It just wouldn’t be ideal,” Madison said. “Plus, we don’t have a field here, so that would make it even more difficult.”
Madison knows difficult. She has shuttled back and forth from shortstop to catcher throughout her career — two challenging positions to master.
Not surprisingly, she prefers shortstop.
“I’ve been doing this since I can remember,” she says, chuckling. “When I was 12, I was behind the plate and then my travel team needed a shortstop, and that started me going back and forth. I’ve never looked back. At catcher, you just never know what’s going to happen to you.”
Madison said she is putting the lofty numbers she put up last season out of her mind. She doesn’t want to use past success as a gauge of current accomplishments.
“I’m not going to try to go out and live up to those standards,” she said. “I’m just trying to go out and enjoy the game.”
She hopes to enjoy it long after high school.
Madison’s goal is to snag a college scholarship. Her dream school? Gannon University, a Division II program in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference.
“Gannon is my No. 1,” Madison said. “But we shall see.”
Emma is also aspiring to play behind her high school years.
“I would love to,” Emma said. “But if the opportunity doesn’t come, it doesn’t come. I’m really going to strive to get that opportunity.”
Emma and Madison are striving for a big season with Forest this season.
“Our main goal is to make the playoffs and go farther that what we did last year,” Emma said. “It was a bummer for us to get eliminated in the first round, so we’re really hoping to get past that first round and do even better.”
