Sarah Southard is not only a standout on the softball diamond; she’s also a gem when it comes to DECA responsibilities and helping others in need.
Photo by Suprina Williams
Sarah Southard believes that she was one of the happiest and one of the most active children in her neighborhood. She said she used to play with her neighbors all the time. “I remember always racing to get our Super Soakers so we could have a huge water fight. I was always getting hurt doing something, but I never really learned to slow down.” She went to the emergency room for cracking her head open once, and another time for breaking the growth plate her ankle.
“Best memory? Ahh, there’s so many. It’s so hard to choose. But something that really stands out to me is when I got to take the guinea pig class pet home over summer! Haha, don’t ask me why I still remember this, but she was so cute! Her name was Caramel and I think it was because of that guinea pig that I got my own, a couple of years later!”
Sarah was such an active child that she said she never really watched TV as a kid. “I don’t really watch it now,” Sarah says.
Sarah started playing softball and volleyball when she was seven years old. “I really love both sports, but I had to choose when I got to middle school,” she said sadly. Now Sarah is a senior at Thomas Jefferson, as well as the TJ softball team captain. She has been playing TJ softball since her freshman year, and also is a TJ girls’ swim team member, and a DECA officer.
Sarah’s favorite hobby is reading; she loves the authors Stephen King and Nicholas Sparks. Sarah also enjoys her free time with her best friends Gabby, Melissa, and Catherine. Her favorite class at TJ is AP Literature taught by her favorite teacher Susan Stokley.
“She is a very determined person and works hard to get where she needs to be. She pulls through 100% of the time,” says one of Sarah’s best friends, Catherine Ramirez.
Sarah’s life’s philosophy is a quote from the move Little Miss Sunshine: “Do what you love, and forget the rest.”
Another one of her best friends, Melissa Acker says, “She is a hard worker and very competitive. She strives to get everything she sets her mind to.”
When she is not reading or with her best friends, Sarah is at practice, with Coaches Kyler Jackson and Kara Rainey. “I think Jackson is an amazing coach. He knows how to correct what we’re doing wrong and he makes practice hilarious. He has helped me with so much, and I owe a lot to him,” said Sarah. “I absolutely love playing softball. When I play I forget everything else that’s going on at the time, outside of the game, and focus on the competition.”
Sarah’s coaces agree that she is a good catcher, and a good player in general. “Sarah is an all-around player. She is coachable, and helps her teammates,” says varsity softball Coach Kyler Jackson. Coach Jackson thinks defense is definitely her strong point in the game of softball.
Sarah knows she has a promising future in softball; she looks up to the successful softball players she has played with in the past years. “As far as inspiration goes, the softball players that just graduated were definitely big role models to me,” says Sarah. ”The memories we’ve made during bus rides are endless, and they are definitely my favorite memory. I will always remember the bus ride up to Grand Junction my junior year. We pulled so many pranks on our coaches that trip. For example, we put a banana peel on top of Ms. Rainey’s seat and when we went over a bump, it fell off into her lap, now keep in mind that Ms. Rainey HATES bananas, for whatever reason, no one really knows. But anyhow, she jumped up and whipped around to see who did it. We were all slumped in our seats avoiding her glare. She got so mad and started scolding us ‘You’ll run for this!’ We paid for it, let me tell you, but it was hilarious.”
Sarah’s future plans are to go to College, where she wants to continue playing softball. She is not quite sure what she wants to do as a career, however. “I don’t want to have to decide right now. There is so much pressure on seniors to choose a college choice and a career path right now, it’s scary! I just know I want to do something along the lines of helping others. I don’t know what that may entail, but it’s something that matters to me,” she said.
Sarah says if she gets the chance to play softball in college, that would be one of the greatest achievements she could make. It would be a lot of work to balance softball and the academics, but she is confident she would find a way to make it work.
