Issue link: http://catalog.e-digitaleditions.com/i/951600
163 A s a middle school soball pitcher in An- keny, Iowa, Allison Doocy looked up to fellow Ankeny athlete Shayla Starkenburg, who was nearly five years her senior. It wasn't lost on Doocy when Starkenburg enrolled at the University of Iowa, appeared in the circle for the Hawkeyes 126 times, and won 34 games. "She was the pitcher (in Ankeny) when I was growing up; that is who I always wanted to be like," Doocy said. "en I got here and she was still who I wanted to be like." Although they were not high school teammates — Doocy was in eighth grade when Starkenburg was a senior — they spent the 2017 season together as Hawkeyes. Both pitchers won nine games. "(Shayla) helped me a lot with the mental side of the game and understanding we are all freshmen at one point," Doocy said. Doocy is no longer a freshman and Starkenburg has graduated and is no longer on the Hawkeye roster. e first thing Doocy did when Iowa's two newest pitchers reported to camp in the fall was put a proverbial arm around their shoulders — just like a hometown veteran did for her a year ago. "I had Shayla here last year and she took me in and helped me right away," Doocy said. "Last year I learned that you need more than one pitcher; we need all of us. I knew from Day 1 that my goal was to get them comfortable and ready, because when the conference (season) comes, we will need every one of us. I wanted to make sure they knew they belonged here." Competing with Doocy for innings for the Hawk- eyes will be senior Kenzie Ihle and Ashley Yoways, juniors Erin Riding and Mallory Kilian, and fresh- man Lauren Shaw. Ihle and Shaw are newcomers. Iowa head coach Marla Looper noticed Doocy's willingness to be a leader and share time in the circle. "e biggest aspect I loved to see is she grabbed the two new pitchers that joined us this fall and has had them to the right and the le of her," Looper said. "ey have been in the pen and chal- lenging each other every day, (asking) 'How do we all get better because we are all going to benefit by that?' "You don't see that in someone who could step up and be the face of your program. But (Allison) knows she can't do that without the team around her and her team within the team, meaning the pitching staff." Doocy's father, Craig, and mother, Pam, met while they were students at the University of Iowa, so it was not a shock that she wanted to enroll here as a student majoring in psychology and human rela- tions. "I grew up a Hawkeye," Doocy said. "Every time I came to Iowa City, we were enjoying Hawkeye football, Hawkeye basketball, and when I came on my visit, it was somewhere I knew I belonged. You could tell when my parents came here how much they enjoyed being (college students)." And then there is Allison's sport of choice. Her father was track and field coach at Ankeny High School and her older sister, Lauren, ran for Simp- son College. Even though her sister chose track as her marquee sport, Allison began soball by watching Lauren compete on the diamond. "Everything my sister did, I wanted to do," Doocy said. "I started playing because of her; playing T- Ball and it went from there." Doocy also participated in volleyball and track and field, but her heart was with soball. e