Parks joined the Tornado staff prior to the 2022-23 season after spending a year as an assistant coach at Yakima Valley College in Yakima, Wash. Prior to that, Parks was a student-athlete at King and is currently a member of the United States Reserves as a specialist.
Year-By-Year Season Recaps
2023: The Tornado played the most games in a season in program history, 60, and won the second most in program history, 36. King won the regular season Conference Carolinas crown for the second straight season and reached the NCAA Southeast Regional for the second straight year and fourth time in program history. The Tornado finished with a 36-24 record, going 16-6 in Conference Carolinas play and finishing as the tournament runner-up. Jessica Campbell set single season school records with a .480 batting average, .547 on base percentage, 70 runs scored, 94 hits and 147 total bases. She became the second player in program history to garner All-American honors from the NFCA and D2CCA, including the first Tornado to earn first team honors from the D2CCA. Along with Campbell, Madison Walter earned first team All-Region honors from the NFCA and second team honors from the D2CCA. Season school rankings as of 2023: first with 21 sacrifice flies, second with a .312 batting average, .382 on base percentage, 334 runs scored, 502 hits, 92 doubles, 46 home runs, 300 runs batted in, 752 total bases, 58 hit by pitch, with seven saves, with 297 strikeouts from pitchers, third with a .467 slugging percentage, 34 sacrifice hits, with 10 shutouts, fourth with 139 walks, with an opponent batting average of .275, fifth with 10 triples, 42 stolen bases. Walter also tossed the second seven inning no hitter in program history, defeating Concord 6-0 on March 7.
Prior to King
Parks spent one season as an assistant coach at Yakima Valley College in Yakima, Wash. Prior to that, Parks was a student-athlete at King and is currently a member of the United States Reserves as a specialist.
Personal
Parks played softball at King from 2017-20, appearing in 111 career games and making 76 starts. The second basemen scored 43 runs and was a career .251 hitter for the Tornado. She helped the Tornado win the Conference Carolinas Tournament in 2018 and qualify for the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional. While there, the Tornado became the first team in school history to win a game in an NCAA Tournament, going 2-2 at the regional.
The Tornado won 30 games in three of her four years on campus as her senior season was cut short due to the COVID 19 pandemic in 2020. In all, King won 110 games in Parks’ four-year career.
Parks graduated from King in 2020 with a degree in Business with a concentration in Management and Marketing.
