Faith Song, senior, is a nursing major and pitcher for the softball team. Song has been playing since she was a young girl, and has developed a great love for the sport. Song has earned wins the past two games she has pitched, and hit three home runs in the past three games.
Song was the recipient of the William Jewell College Omar William Nadler Award in both 2013 and 2014 and was the recipient of the 2014 William Jewell Softball Golden Glove Award.
Song believes the team has given back to her in much bigger ways than just victories and accolades, though.
“Softball has taught me that everything is not going to be perfect in life and that you are always going to have to work to get better. You are going to have to keep perfecting your skills,” Song said.
Song initially played baseball for a year when she was seven, and then switched to softball. She continued to play on the same softball team from age eight to 14.
“I found that playing softball with a bunch of girls made me a lot happier. There’s better team camaraderie,” Song said.
By the time Song left that league, the team had gone through a drastic transformation in just a few years.
“We turned the program around. Nobody knew about us. We didn’t do very well at first, but by 14-and-under we were winning district championships,” Song said.
Song’s father had coached her all through her softball career until she came to Jewell, so finding the right coaches was a critical factor in choosing where to play at the college level. Coming from California, Song had never even heard of Jewell. She met with Coach Combs and Coach Bower at two separate tournaments, toured the campus and said she fell in love. Song is passionate about the team’s success as a whole, both about having a winning season and the players’ well being. Song said she wants to go out with a bang.
“My goal is to carry my team as well as I can. I think the ultimate goal for us is to go to regionals this year. We’ve been to the conference and now we want to take it one step further and go to regionals afterwards,” Song said.
Song attributes her success to her father who coached her all through her pre-college career and now, her coaches here at Jewell.
“Coach Combs and Coach Bower have really made a huge impact on my life. They’ve taken what I had and turned me into a better player,” Song said.
Facing her upcoming graduation, Song said that softball has prepared her for a career. Not only has she had fun times on the team, but she has gained valuable skills that she plans to carry into the future. Song has learned teamwork, hard work and respect for her elders and others, which she believes will help her greatly throughout the rest of her life.
The softball team has two games coming up Feb. 21 against Rogers State University and Northeastern State University. The next home game is Mar. 8 against Upper Iowa University.