I have been playing softball for as long as I can remember. It all started when I was asked to play by a friend so that she had a friend on the team. The rest of the journey consisted of changing teams for a better future and traveling all over for college camps. However, in the end, it was all worth it.

When I was 11, I played on my first travel softball team. That team was Maryland Dynasty 14U. To me, playing up age groups was a big boost of confidence, and it meant that they thought I was good enough to play with the “big kids.” I was very successful, and it helped me realize that I had a future in softball.

I played on Maryland Dynasty before I moved to play at Hickory Hornets at age 13. I spent a long time on that team and made many important connections. That team made me the player that I am today. On the Hornets team, it’s when I really decided that I wanted to play in college. I made the decision to change teams one more time to a program that could put me in front of college coaches constantly.

At that moment, I was practicing every single day for three hours, really homing in on the parts of my game that would push me across the line and be able to play in college. I saw how hard work and dedication can pay off. I went to my first college camp shortly after joining my new team, the Gold Coast Hurricanes.

My first camp was a multiple-college camp with eight different schools. There were well over 100 girls at this camp. I feared that I wouldn’t be seen or recognized by a coach. I ended up talking to a coach about nothing related to softball — just talking. This coach was the head coach at Marshall named Cat Clifford. She told me, “Only talking to you for less than five minutes your personality is of someone that I would love to have on my team.” From that moment on, I felt and knew that I could play in college.

For the next year, I went to 13 more camps. I started seeing more and more of the same schools and started getting recognition. I played well in front of coaches during tournaments with my club team. I was sending emails to coaches and sending them my game film, just hoping that they would see potential in me.

Going into my junior year of high school, I had many schools who were interested in me, and it was stressful visiting all these schools and trying to find a home for me. I went to East Carolina, George Mason, and Elon, and none of them felt like home. However, I had one visit left: Towson. I stepped on campus with the team and the coaches, and it just felt like home. I could really see myself there.

I got the offer to play at some of the schools that I visited but none of them felt like Towson.

I called the head coach and committed to playing at Towson. It was a moment of relief and joy. I never have felt a bigger relief than when I committed. All the hard work, blood, sweat, and tears had finally paid off.