Four more years of softball in store for Noyer

Some people discover their life passion at a young age, and nothing could be more true of WHS senior Paisley Noyer. There almost isn’t anything the Weiser High School senior loves better than grabbing her mitt and bat and being on a ball field.

 Although she  committed to Northwest Nazarene University’s D2 softball program late last fall, where she will study engineering or business, Noyer participated in a ceremonial signing at WHS with a couple of other friends this week, as each officially announced their intent to take their individual talents to the collegiate level.

 Noyer told the Signal American she had played all kinds of recreation sports when she was small, but when her dad handed her a bat and a glove, “that was kind of the sport that we did.”

 “I mean, they let me try every sport,” she said. “When I was younger I went to the golf camp, tennis camps, but I think when I was younger I was the best at softball.“

 From around the age of 10, Noyer started playing club travel softball, the first few years with a whole pack of local Weiser girls on the Washington County Warriors team. Her dad, Jason, coached the group of girls fairly and equally. As she and her sister, Tobie, got older, they tried out and played for Crossfire Burke out of Boise, and last fall, Paisley won a spot on the Team Idaho U18 Dirtdogs.

 “We’ll be playing PGF tournaments this summer, they are more like top dog tournaments,” she said. “A lot of them are in California and Oregon.”

 All while maintaining a perfect 4.0 gpa year after year in school, Noyer’s commitment to the sport has included hours and hours of pitching and hitting lessons at Reps Training and Hitting Facility in Meridian, this spring changing the focus to the smaller, white baseball.

 To round out her high school experience, Noyer became part of Weiser High School’s baseball team this year.

 “This was a whole new season,” she said. “Compared to softball, the ball is smaller, which is a little harder to field, and the pitcher’s release point is different when you’re hitting. It’s coming at you from a different angle, because they’re also up on a mound. A different ball, same concepts.”

 She said she hadn’t intended to change her swing, but believes this season has taught her how to put more power behind it.

 “As the season has gone on, I feel like just watching the boys, I’ve changed to mimic them,” she said. “I still know my softball swing, but I will probably implement what I’ve learned into it.”

 During the baseball team’s end of season barbecue, as he acknowledged each of his players, Coach Tyler Grant said having Paisley on the team was a whole new experience for him, as well.

 “I’m so glad you came out here, so glad you’ve been a part of us,” Grant said. “So glad that you were all able to make this a great experience. It’s fun to see you interact and be a part of the team, and you’re no different than anybody else, and that’s exactly what I expected out of you and exactly what I expect out of the other 32.

 “I wish I had you another year,” he went on. “I think the growth we would see would be exponential. But I know you’re excited to get back to hitting that larger yellow ball, and I’m excited that I already had reasons to go back to my old alma mater to watch, but now I’ve got reasons to go back and watch softball.”

 Looking back, raising and coaching Paisley, her dad, Jason said he’s enjoyed every minute teaching her the game.

 “From when she started with coach pitch and then through Washington County Warriors travel ball, she’s always been a hard worker and put in a ton of time in this sport,” he said. “I guess my favorite thing has always been coming home and sitting on the bucket, catching or pitching or putting the ball on the T or doing front toss with her. I never had to ask to do any of it, she always would come and ask Dad to do it. She works hard at school, and just got done playing baseball, which was a lot of fun.

 “I am excited Paisley is going to play at NNU,” he added. “She decided to stay close to home and go play softball, so that’s going to be pretty fun to watch her play for the next four years.”

 Paisley expressed similar feelings, “I still have four years of softball, with home games nearby, so Mom and Dad and my grandparents can come to them.”