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Amanda Kulp is Methacton's gritty leader

It has been the same for Amanda Kulp since she was 5 years old and first learning to play the game. When she exits a softball field, she's going to be the dirtiest of any of the players.

It has been the same for Amanda Kulp since she was 5 years old and first learning to play the game. When she exits a softball field, she's going to be the dirtiest of any of the players.

"It's just who I am," the Methacton senior shortstop said. Her teammates wouldn't want it any other way: They used to jokingly call her Pig Pen.

The joke has evolved, though. Now instead of telling someone she has dirt on her shirt, they've replaced it with "Kulp on your dirt."

As in: "You've got some Kulp on your dirt."

It's the way she runs with abandon on the base paths and the athleticism she displays at short. There's never a moment when one could doubt the effort of the St. Joseph's recruit.

Most of the time proof of that effort is rubbed into the front of her jersey after lying out to make a play or on her socks and pants from sliding into a steal.

"Amanda is an impact player," longtime Warriors coach Cathy Miller said. "I've only coached a handful of them and she's joined them.

"She would be - if she was a guy - a prospect somewhere. From the athletic standpoint, desire to play, her skill set, she'd be a prospect."

When Kulp gets on base - as she does so frequently for the Warriors - she's going to steal second. Her speed and "natural instinct," as she calls it, make her one of the biggest threats in the area on the base paths. It's a talent she says she developed over the last two years.

She doesn't overthink it. She's not afraid. She just goes.

"Stuff happens when she is on base," Miller said.

With three games in as many days this week against formidable opponents - Perkiomen Valley on Monday, a nonleague contest against Hatboro-Horsham on Tuesday and Spring-Ford on tap Wednesday - Kulp says this stretch will be a defining one for the team.

At 3-2, the Warriors aren't exactly where they are used to being. For someone who has gone 51-19 in her first three seasons, being only one game above .500 isn't something Kulp is familiar with, either.

Her goal is to get the team back on track after a slow start. The long-term goal is a more personal one: Beat the Warriors' career batting average of over .470. The record is held by assistant coach Candace Clark, who graduated in 1995. Kulp says she'd have to hit around .500 this season to do it.

In the meantime, Kulp has other things in mind, like winning another Pioneer Athletic Conference title. While she goes after that, she's bound to get some Kulp on her dirt.