Sami Sjostrand: ASA Softball

With school, homework, and for some students, jobs, the majority of students are up late studying or doing homework, but throw a few hours of practice and games in the mix, and that pushes the entire schedule back. The life of a student-athlete is rigorous, but when the passion for the sport is present, the time invested in the sport is well worth it.

Sami Sjostrand, a senior, plays softball year round. During the spring, Sami plays on the RHS Varsity softball team, but in the fall and summer, Sami competes on the All-American Mizuno 18u Gold.

To strictly focus on her pitching skills, Sami takes pitching lessons once a week for 30 minutes. During travel ball season, Sami practices twice a week for 2-3 hours and has tournaments every weekend with her ASA (Amateur Softball Association of America) team. Sometimes, the tournaments are in Southern California, so Sami has to drive down on a Friday and usually does not get home until late Sunday night or early Monday morning. Although the sport is time consuming, Sami’s passion for softball makes the hectic schedule worth it.

“I play softball year round because I love the game, I wouldn’t want to be doing anything else,” Sami said.

Like any sport, there are many life lessons to be learned in softball such as leadership, good work ethic, responsibility, and teamwork.  Sami also mentioned how softball has taught her to overcome adversity, concentrate in high stress situations, and be patient.

While softball has brought happiness to Sami’s life, at one point, Sami faced adversity when a coach told her she was not good enough to achieve her goals.

“When I was younger, a coach told me that I would never be a pitcher because I was too short.  But now, I am going to play softball in college,” Sami said.

Instead of quitting because a coach doubted her, Sami worked even harder to pitch in college and proved that coach wrong.  Sami signed her National Letter of Intent to play softball at Southern Oregon University next year.

With good goal setting, hard work, and determination, anything is possible.