Riverhead alum Julia Morrow earns Hall of Fame honors

Julia Morrow’s softball resume has been full of accolades dating back to when she owned the pitching circle as a member of the Riverhead Blue Waves. She is still, to this day, the only pitcher to throw a perfect game in Riverhead school history. Her time in a Blue Wave uniform was only the start of what later turned out to be a Hall of Fame career.

After graduating from Riverhead in 2010, Morrow briefly attended Central Connecticut University before transferring to the University of Tampa, what she now considers to be one of the best decision of her life. She finished her time in Tampa as a two-time All-America selection. Morrow threw two perfect games and three no-hitters total as a member of the Spartans. As a junior, she led all of the NCAA in earned run average (0.72). She ranks second in program history in strikeouts per game with an average of 10.11. The long-framed intimidating fireballer hung up her cleats as a Spartan with a 48-18 career record, striking out 641 batters and pitched to an ERA of 1.28.

All her hard work culminated in the prestigious honor of being inducted into the University of Tampa Athletic Hall of Fame on October 17. When Morrow looks back at it all now, even almost 10 years later, it’s still a whirlwind of emotions.

“It’s hard to look back at all you accomplished because it brings up so many memories,” Morrow said. “It’s not bad memories but it’s just sad that it won’t ever happen again but being a teammate is something I’ll cherish the most. I always hoped I would get inducted into the hall of fame. It’s truly an incredible honor to even be put on the ballot let alone selected in my first year of eligibility.”

During her years at Tampa, the Spartans’ softball team won the conference in most of her years there so the success of the program as a whole only pushed her harder as she stepped into a more prolific role in her later years. “I had other All-Americans in the program to look up to, so having that example to feed from meant everything to me,” Morrow said. “Being surrounded by success only makes you better. I also had the same coaches for all my years there and that’s really unheard of in college athletics. My coaches are still coaching there now.”

Morrow spent countless hours in the bullpen over the years, fine-tuning her pitching arsenal. She took full advantage of having sunshine and warm weather all year ’round — a luxury she didn’t have growing up.

“I had to put in the extra work,” Morrow said. “A lot of my teammates pretty much grew up being able to play softball year round. I had no choice but to work harder on the field and off the field in the weight room to get to the place I wanted to be. I wouldn’t have gotten to where I did without my catcher and pitching coach spending all that extra time with me as well.”

Jaci Davis, the pitching coach at Tampa, made a profound impact on Morrow even at the beginning stages of her recruitment there. She pushed her to limits she didn’t know existed.

“She saw the potential I had to be a dominant pitcher. The pieces were always there,” said Morrow. “I definitely wouldn’t have been able to do what I did without her.”

Aside from physical traits and athletic ability, pitching well came down to executing a flawless strategy. Perfect games involve precise planning.

“My senior year I was pitching all three games in a series,” Morrow said. “I couldn’t show up and be the same pitcher every single game. We had to come up with a plan on how I could be different from one game to the next to keep the other team on their toes.” When college ended, Morrow played professionally in Italy and Austria before finally calling it quits and ditching the softball uniform for a corporate outfit. The experience playing overseas was life-changing.

“It was a culture shock at first because playing in the NCAA was more rigid,” Morrow said. “For example, I don’t think it was kosher to smoke a cigarette or drink a beer in between games in college. It was more of a social thing overseas. Even after the game the teams would hang out and I could never allow competitive self to do that in college. But overall it was a great opportunity to be in another country for more than the typical week you go on vacation.”

Morrow still coaches here and there to keep her foot in the sport she always loved and her best advice to kids growing up is to be willing to change. “Don’t be stuck in your own ways thinking that what you’re doing today is what is going to get you to the next level,” Morrow said. “You have to look for those opportunities and find those coaches that are going to push you and believe in you. You have to push yourself harder than you ever thought was possible. Because without that change you’re not going to get to that place that you want to be.”