By Mia Merrill, Sports Editor
Q: Where are you from?
A: I'm from Hoosick Falls, NY, a little town about an hour away from here.
Q: What’s your major? What do you plan to do after Skidmore (the dreaded question!)?
A: I'm a biology major with an education minor, and I've been accepted to Union Graduate College to pursue my master's in education for biology next year. I'm also applying for a teaching fellowship opportunity, so ideally I'll be very busy next year!
Q: What position do you play? When did you start playing softball?
A: I'm an outfielder, and I actually didn't start playing softball until I was 11 — my little brother joined little league and I got jealous that he was having all the fun, so I had to sign up, too.
Q: Why do you love softball?
A: The thing I love most about softball is simply that anything can happen on any given day. Nothing is ever certain. You may end up scoring a bunch of runs in the seventh inning to overcome a huge deficit and win the game!
Q: How are you preparing for your upcoming season? Do you feel good about the prospects?
A: Well, we’ve already been practicing for about a month, and while it’s hard to get a realistic practice in a gym, we’re certainly doing everything we can to be ready for our season opener next month. I think we have a lot of talent on this year’s roster, and we’ve started a solid foundation for the program. I’m really excited to see what happens this season.
Q: How does the softball team bond with their new members?
A: As with just about any team you’ll find, we have certain traditions that we like to maintain. Just the other day, we made locker room signs for the season. But for us, our spring break trip to Florida is probably when the most bonding happens. It’s hard to not learn a few things about each other when you’re living together for a week!
Q: What’s one thing you want the student body to know about your team?
A:I think one thing that everyone should know about Skidmore’s teams in general is just how hard everyone works, and how much effort is put into a team’s success. It’s a big time commitment, and I think Skidmore’s athletes really embody what it is to be [a] collegiate athlete.
Q: What’s a favorite memory you have from being on the team? What’s been your greatest accomplishment?
A: It’s almost impossible to pick just one memory. But I know at the end of the year when it’s all said and done, what I’m going to remember most is all the teammates that I’ve had over the past four years that have really made this experience worthwhile. That being said, our greatest accomplishment was probably reaching the Liberty League playoffs last year for only the second time in [program’s] history.
Q: Do you have any advice for students who are thinking about joining a team but are worried about balancing schoolwork and athletics?
A: Honestly, I think being on a team really makes me value the free time that I have. I know when I need to get my work done, so it really forces me to manage my time well.