Julia Morrow Completes First Professional Season Abroad

TAMPA, Fla. – University of Tampa Softball alumni Julia Morrow has concluded her first season playing overseas as she has returned to Tampa from Italy. In Italy, Morrow played for Old Parma, a softball team that is part of the Gruppo OltreTorrente BSC (BSC = Baseball Softball Club) Parma in Reggio Emilia, Italy and plays in the Italian Softball League.

The former Spartan pitcher spent four months with the team and her impact was evident both pitching and at the plate. In 65 innings of work, Julia accumulated 106 strikeouts and had an ERA of 1.94.  At the plate, she had a batting average of .323 which was second on the team, on base percent of .400 that led the team, and a slugging percentage of .387 also good for second on the team.

Her season highlight in the circle came against Sarrono on June 18 as she struck out 19 batters for her season high. For the season, Morrow led her side of the league, Giorne A, in strikeouts per seven innings pitched with a tally of 11.42; a number that was good enough for third overall in the league. With these stats, she was selected to be a part of the All-Star game but was unable to participate due to medical reasons.

Morrow played for head coach Armando Aguiar, who is of Cuban descent. Aguiar has coached professionally all over Europe.

"He used hand signs to communicate, and my team was very young, and a lot of them did not speak English," says Morrow. "The girls ranged in age from 17-35, which is very different from the NCAA playing scene that I was accustomed to."

Playing in the highest level of play, not only in Italy, but in Europe as well. Morrow was the only foreigner on my team, which made communication difficult.

"We played double-headers every Saturday night and practiced 2-3 times a week," says Morrow. "I also helped coach the younger kids (8-10 years old) and got them started on basic pitching mechanics."

During her time, she traveled to 11 countries and tried to get the most out of her time in Europe.