Triple play: Bloomington South softball's Morgan Cockerill thrives as three-sport athlete

Morgan Cockerill gets ready for each softball season with about eight months of distance running and some stretching.

For four years, the Bloomington South senior has enjoyed keeping up a busy routine as the rare three-sport athlete who competes in completely different disciplines. First, it's cross country in the late summer and fall, then she moves on to gymnastics before hitting the diamond in the spring.

Each sport helps the other, she said, and the whole time, Cockerill has worked extra on her main focus, softball, well enough to get a chance to play that sport in college at DePauw. It's all just an extension of her youth.

"My parents always really encouraged it and I loved everything that I did," Cockerill said. "They encouraged me to pursue that even though I know it was really difficult driving me everywhere. But I really liked being active as a kid and I continue to do that."

This spring, she has been a solid designated hitter and backup pitcher. She's fifth on the team in batting average (.341) and second in RBIs (11) and has slugged two homers. In the circle, she's 1-2 with a save and has walked just nine while striking out 24.

On top of all that, Cockerill keeps her grades up and is an accomplished artist.

"To be able to balance all that can be hard," South coach Meg Montgomery said. "It's pretty rare to have a player like that."

Cockerill is always on the move

"As soon as I was able to walk, they put me in dance," Cockerill said. "I played pretty much everything."

She started pitching when she was 9 and quickly softball became her favorite.

"It's just the one I was the best at," Cockerill said. "I work really well under pressure, so I feel like that aligns with me."

But just softball wasn't enough. She added cross country for the conditioning and coming out of COVID, didn't want to spend more time at home, so she picked up gymnastics again.

"I did it as a little kid. I knew the coach (Michelle Stroud) and I thought it was just going to be fun and it was. I'm not an all-star gymnast but I really enjoy that team. It's a really nice environment, really supportive for me and my athletic journey."

There's very little "offseason" for softball with summer travel ball and fall workouts and open gyms, so Cockerill has had to make some concessions and prioritize her favorite sport over the others, sneaking in workouts in her garage.

"She might have been running cross country or doing gymnastics, but I knew she was working on her softball behind the scenes," Montgomery said.

Cockerill runs occasionally to stay in shape but always works her hardest during cross country season. Gymnastics is strictly in-season.

"I really loved it when I was younger and really sad when I had to quit," Cockerill said. "I just think it's super fun and also the conditioning aspect. I want to go into physical therapy so that kind of interests me, how the body moves and how you can train yourself outside of your sport in ways that can transfer over to the other sport.

"Gymnastics, for instance, is a super explosive sport, there's a lot of strength that goes into it, which I think really translates to the softball field."

'All eyes on you'

Gymnastics and cross country each brought something to the table Cockerill used to be successful in softball.

"I really enjoy the mental side of sports," Cockerill said. "I think that's why cross country and gymnastics really help me. There's a mental side of cross country where you have to push through the pain and a lot of what the coach says, 'You've got to get comfortable with being uncomfortable.'

"Gymnastics is also a super mental sport. You have to push through the mental blocks, which is what you see in hitting. Sometimes you get in a slump and you've just got to get through it mentally. When you're on the mound, it feels really lonely out there."

That's where the confidence and the ability to shut out the surroundings she gained in gymnastics comes in.

"Getting on a balance beam, you've got four inches and you can't fall off," she said. "It's similar to being at the plate — I have one chance at this. This is the hardest thing to do in sports and I have to do it.

"Especially with gymnastics, which I'm not necessarily good at, it changed my mindset to go up there and do the best I can, no matter what happens. To be a pitcher, it's like being on the floor exercise because you are out there and all eyes are on you. You are dancing in a leotard in front of an audience of people, so you need to get out of your head and just do you."

After graduation, Morgan Cockerill will be heading to DePauw

Being comfortable in her own skin makes it that much easier to be comfortable in uniform.

"Morgan's probably one of the most mature athletes I've ever coached," Montgomery said. "She knows the game and you've seen from her freshman year, she's gotten stronger and stronger mentally on the mound. That helps settle her down and keep her composure."

She'll take that mental toughness to the program at DePauw next year. It's the school her dad and several other family members have attended and a visit confirmed it was the place for her, too.

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"I feel like I've had this path set, so I'm just along for the ride at this point," said Cockerill, who is going to study kinesiology, with a goal of being a physical therapist. The ride has been a blast and she wants it to stay that way.

"I'm always competitive," Cockerill said. "It's who I am. I really struggle to have fun on the softball field because I get so into it. So I think gymnastics really helped me open up to that.

"I'm no all-state gymnast, so I do that for me. I had to change my mindset, just go out there and do the best I can and have fun. I take some of that to the softball field, soaking up every moment of it and enjoying it because it's not going to be here forever."

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Bloomington South softball's Morgan Cockerill thrives in three sports