Former Unaka standout Alana Parsons transfers to Milligan

Published 3:39 pm Friday, May 26, 2023

Although it was an extremely difficult decision in the end the opportunity to play in her hometown proved to be enough to tip the scales and former Lady Rangers player Alana Parsons choose to come back to Carter County and become a Lady Buff. Parsons, Friday afternoon made it official signing to finish her academic and collegiate career at Milligan; she did so in front of friends and family near Anglin Field on the campus of Milligan University.

The Valedictorian of Unaka’s class of 2022 talked about just how tough this choice was, “your senior year of high school decisions are tough it came time to make that choice and I made it; as my freshmen year went on I came to realize that Lees-McRae was not the right fit for me.” Lees-McRae is only an hour away but having the opportunity to play in the community she grew up was too good to pass up. “Thinking about transferring was overwhelming but the more I thought and prayed about it, I just knew this was going to be the best option for me.” Like many freshmen being away from home can be tough and make for a difficult transition; “being away from home was a big part of this for me, Milligan being in my hometown is big and I have always felt drawn to Milligan.” At Lees-McRae, she performed well in limited action appearing in 15 games and hitting a home run in her first at bat.

Parsons may be best known at Unaka for hitting some absolute bombs, one legendary shot,  that made it all the way to the 30-yard line of the football field at Unaka. For Milligan Softball Head Coach Wes Holly, the thought of having a utility player with that kind of pop in her bat was too much for him to pass on. “We think Alana will bring a lot of help to the hitting area and she is committed to doing whatever she needs to make the team better. Defensively she can play multiple positions well  and she also does well academically, which is a big plus for this program.”