How does softball fit into your story?

Without softball, our two families would have never come together. Softball was like my therapy. Probably more expensive than therapy.  If I was having a hard day, I would just go softball and have a hard practice. It was great to have that stress relief at such a young age. Softball gave me a lot of structure. Softball kept me from following my family’s history of making bad decisions. I knew if I got in trouble, I couldn’t play softball.  Softball really kept me on a good path in life and it gave me every opportunity that I could ask for.  Softball has given me a free education, housing, a roof over my head, really everything those 4 years at Arkansas.  

Tell us about what it was like for you growing up?

When I was 13, things got really chaotic.  My mom was on drugs and my step-dad was in jail.  I had to step into the mom role to take care of my brother and sister.  I was taking care of them until my mom told me that she could no longer take care of us.  She told me that I would end up going down with her if I stayed.  I moved in with Brian and Nicole who became my ‘kind of’ adoptive parents.   And I lived with them until I moved too Arkansas.  My brother and sister moved in with their grandparents. It was just really chaotic growing up.  When my mom wasn’t on drugs, she tried to do what was best for me.  

My mom is clean and sober now.  And doing really great.  We are best friends today.