By Derrick Smith

Hard work and determination go a long way in helping an athlete become the best that they can be. While those two things are important, Channing Lipe says that there is something else that has helped her become the athlete that she is today.

“I have accepted the fact that I will never be a perfect athlete,” she said. “I have also understood that the game of softball is a game of failure. You can never get bored of the process. There is always something to get better at is what helped me be successful in softball.”

Lipe is a senior at Jones High School, where she plays center field for the softball team. She has played softball for a majority of her life, this will be her fourteenth year of competition.

Throughout her career, Channing has had people that have tried to tear her down, but as she will tell you, you cannot listen to others. Just be true to yourself.

“I have always been told in travel ball that I would never be good enough or big enough to be able to play at this level,” she said. “But now I am committed to playing in college and putting my full effort into everything I do to be better. The people that have said that to me just helped me become a better athlete and proved people wrong when they have doubted me.”

There have been people that have influenced Lipe during her life, but she says that there is one that made the biggest impact.

“My dad is the biggest role model for me,” she said. “He has always shown me how to be my absolute best at everything I do. Not just in sports, but in whatever I chose to do.”

Channing has enjoyed some great moments during her athletic career, but she says that one moment this past summer stands out as her favorite.
“This summer, we played in the World Fastpitch Championship in Kansas City,” she said. “We only had nine players and we ended up finishing in second place out of all seventy-four teams entered. It was really awesome.”