Alison Paige Aguilar (born August 28, 1995) is an American, former collegiate All-American, medal-winning Olympian, softball player at

shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball or softball fielding position between second and third base, which is considered to be among the most demanding defensive positions. Historically the position was assigned to defensive specialists who ...

. She played

college softball College softball is softball as played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education, predominantly in the United States. College softball is normally played by women at the Intercollegiate level, whereas college baseball is nor ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

from 2014 to 2017 where she was named a three-time First Team All-

Pac-12 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

and a National Fastpitch Coaches Association Second and Third Team All-American in her last two years. She won the Cowles Cup with the

Scrap Yard Dawgs The Scrap Yard Fast Pitch was an independent women's professional softball team based in Conroe, Texas, just north of Houston. Established in October 2015 as the Scrap Yard Dawgs, the team played in the National Pro Fastpitch (NPF) during the 20 ...

of the

National Pro Fastpitch National Pro Fastpitch (NPF), formerly the Women's Pro Softball League (WPSL), was a professional women's softball league in the United States. The teams battled for the Cowles Cup. The WPSL was founded in 1997 and folded in 2001; the NPF revive ...

in 2017. She also played professionally in Japan. She represented

Team USA The United States national team or Team USA may refer to any of a number of sports team representing the United States in international competitions. Olympic teams Additionally, these teams may compete in other international competitions such as ...

at the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

and won a silver medal.

Early life

Aguilar was born in

Roseville, California Roseville is the most populous city in Placer County, California, located within the Sacramento metropolitan area. As of 2019, the US Census Bureau estimated the city's population to be 141,500. Interstate 80 runs through Roseville and State Rout ...

to parents Mark and Kristin Aguilar. Aguilar started softball at an early age playing Bobby Sox in Rio Linda, California, where she credits Coach Anita Orozco for showing her the ropes at such an early age. She graduated from

Casa Roble High School Casa Roble Fundamental High School is a public high school located in Orangevale, California. It is a part of the San Juan Unified School District with a student body of approximately 1250 students from northern Orangevale and a portion of Citrus ...

Orangevale, California Orangevale is a census-designated place (CDP) in Sacramento County, California, United States. It is part of the Sacramento–Arden-Arcade– Roseville Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 33,960 at the 2010 census, up from 26, ...

in 2013 with a 3.8

GPA Grading in education is the process of applying standardized measurements for varying levels of achievements in a course. Grades can be assigned as letters (usually A through F), as a range (for example, 1 to 6), as a percentage, or as a numbe ...

and with four letters in softball.

Playing career

College

Aguilar played

. She came to Washington as a slap hitter, but Husky coach,

Heather Tarr Heather Robyn Tarr (born October 5, 1974) is an American, former collegiate softball third baseman, and is the current head coach at Washington. Tarr become one of five coaches/athletes to have played and coached in the Women's College World Serie ...

, decided that she should swing away. Aguilar made this transition, and became one of the best power hitters in the country, hitting 21

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

s in her Junior season in 2016.

Professional

Aguilar was drafted thirteenth overall by the

in the 2017 NPF Draft. During her first season with the team, she helped the team win the Cowles Cup, their first championship in program history.

International career

Aguilar was selected to represent the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

at the

2016 Women's Softball World Championship The 2016 Women's Softball World Championship was an international softball competition to be held in Surrey, British Columbia between July 15 and July 24, 2016.

, where the team won the gold medal. Aguilar hit .273 in the tournament with a Home Run and 5

RBIs A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the bat ...

Statistics

Personal life

Aguilar is a

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

. She has said “I used to eat, breathe and sleep softball. But when God was introduced to my life and became my life, softball no longer defined me. God’s plans and the ability He’s given me in softball are why I play. I see His hand in every part of my journey. Embodying the character of Christ is my end goal; it’s not just about winning a gold medal. I want to let the light of Christ shine through me.”

References

1995 births Living people Sportspeople from Roseville, California Washington Huskies softball players Softball players from California Scrap Yard Dawgs players Olympic softball players of the United States Pan American Games medalists in softball Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States Softball players at the 2019 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2019 Pan American Games Softball players at the 2020 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists for the United States in softball Olympic medalists in softball 21st-century American women {{US-softball-bio-stub