Sports
B1
Appeal Tribune, www.silvertonappeal.com
Wednesday, December 21, 2016
ANNA REED/STATESMAN JOURNAL
Junior Maggie Roth plays soccer and basketball for Silverton High School.
Being outstanding at three sports
is only part of who Maggie Roth is
BILL POEHLER
STATESMAN JOURNAL
SILVERTON -- There’s a reason so
many people profess their love of Mag-
gie Roth.
The Silverton High School junior in-
spires by the effort she puts into playing
sports and her easy-going manner draws
in those around her when she’s not play-
ing.
Roth can even inspire people to make
up words to describe her.
“She’s the awesomest,” junior team-
mate Brooke McCarty said.
That Roth been an all-state selection
in three sports is an added bonus.
At this point in the year, she’s making
opponents account for her on both ends
of the floor.
But in the spring she swings a bat with
power and guns down runners with ease
from the catcher position on Silverton’s
softball team.
And this fall she was the sure thing
midfielder on Silverton’s 5A state run-
ner-up soccer team.
It’s who Roth is away from all of that
that inspires loyalty.
“One, she doesn’t take herself very se-
riously,” Silverton basketball coach Tal
Wold said. “She is so goofy, and it’s a
great character thing. She’s like 16, or
now 17, going on 12, except when you
need to be 16 or 17.
“I don’t think she’s gotten anything
other than an A. She played three sports
and dominates all of them. Competes like
crazy in all of them. Is a great teammate
in all of them. There’s not look at me, who
I am. She kind of gets it,” he added.
In the classroom, Roth carries a 4.0
GPA.
Transitioning from sport to sport is
nothing new to Roth, she’s been doing it
most of her life.
“I remember going to a soccer tourna-
ment in the morning and later that day I
went to a softball tournament and
played,” Roth said.
“I just love playing. It’s fun to me. It’s
something I want to do and love to do.”
Roth generously lists herself at 5-
foot-7, but it doesn’t matter if she gives
up a foot of height or a couple steps of
speed to an opponent.
Since she arrived as a starter for the
Foxes for her freshman year, she has
scrapped for every loose ball and hustled
every play.
In her sophomore year, she was an
honorable mention all-state selection –
averaging 8.8 points, a team-leading 9.2
rebounds and 2.8 steals per game. That
was on a team that also won the Class 5A
state girls basketball championship.
Her summers were usually spent
playing club softball or soccer, but last
year she played club basketball for the
Northwest Stars.
“We played AAU this summer and she
never played before, and she got out
SPECIAL TO THE STATESMAN JOURNAL
Silverton senior Maggie Roth was a key player for the Foxes’ 5A state champion team in 2016.
there and could compete against any-
body, top players, no matter what,”
McCarty said.
“Her hustle, her effort, her attitude
really make up for her shortcomings,”
Wold said. “Her shortcomings aren’t
really shortcomings for us. She’s really
improved as a basketball player.
“I’ve had a couple people tell me her
best sports projectability are probably
softball and soccer. I think her favorite is
basketball. She’s good in everything and
I wouldn’t be surprised if she chose aca-
demics in college,” he said.
The same traits that serve Roth well
as a basketball player help her in other
arenas.
In soccer, she’s a physical midfielder
who can move opponents off the ball and
control possession.
The Foxes placed second in the state
this fall with Roth – who has 10 goals and
eight assists in her career – patrolling
the midfield.
“She’s very aggressive and every 50-
50 ball she goes for, you know she’s going
to come out on top at the end,” said Silver-
ton senior Hannah Munson, a soccer
teammate of Roth’s.
In softball Roth batted .275 with a .610
slugging percentage as a sophomore.
She also had four home runs and 19 RBI.
All-state honors follow Roth to each
sport. In addition to basketball, she was
named to the third team in softball last
spring and second-team all-state in soc-
cer this fall.
The youngest of four siblings, Roth
learned the drive to compete early.
“I grew up watching my sister play
because she played tournament basket-
ball, too, and tournament soccer,” she
said. “So I just grew up watching and
learning from her. That helped me learn
the game and stuff.”
But there actually are some things at
which she is not great.
Hearing Roth sing a Beyonce song at
the top of her lungs, for example, is
something you’ll probably regret. But
she’s going to do it anyway.
As for shortcomings, Roth doesn’t
have many.
“I think if there was something she
sucked at, she would probably work real-
ly hard at it and get good at it,” Wold said.
bpoehler@StatesmanJournal.com or
Twitter.com/bpoehler