Northwestern University Athletics
"Never Count Us Out" - By Sydney Supple
3/25/2021 10:29:00 AM | Softball
Sydney Supple, a sophomore on the Northwestern Softball team and student at the Medill School of Journalism, gives an inside look at her team's red hot start to the season.
Never count us out.
7th inning, two outs, a 3-2 count and Morgan Newport is up to bat. No matter the opponent or if we are down to our last swing, I will still choose us every time.
(Watch to see why)
That faith did not magically appear in this very moment of game #3 vs. Ohio State when Newport hit a screaming line drive to give us the lead in the seventh and what we needed to close the door on the series. That feeling has been building inside me and all of my teammates over these past few months. The craziest part is how the belief was first established off the field. From counting on the teammate to your left and right to run a half gasser in under fifteen seconds so you didn't have to keep running more or yelling at your lifting partner to do one more pull up even if that meant you were the one pushing her up over the bar just so she can get there. Every one of those moments has prepped us for when the game was on the line, no fear was present in our dugout. All I could sense was the sheer confidence we held in knowing she was going to get the hit, we were just waiting to see which pitch it would happen on. As I held my breath, the energy built inside me and I could see my teammates ready to explode and do what we love most, celebrating one another.
As our team is twelve games into the season and starting to discover our identity, what shines through above all is our genuine love towards one another! Here is another angle of Newport's steller at bat, but this time pay attention to the raw emotion of my team's reaction.
There is no faking our pure enthusiasm of wanting to scream at the top of our lungs to celebrate each other and then the urgent need we feel to get our teammates in the dugout and surround them in our newly famous Northwestern softball pit. The pit can occur in our team's dugout, on any field or stadium; it comes alive whenever a player does something significant that brings the juice to put us in a winning position. The celebration of the pit can occur from a crucial walk, moving the runner over, a big hit, and any time you touch home. After any of those moments, every person in our dugout starts jumping and yelling 'get in the pit', waiting for her teammate(s) to enter the dugout so we can surround her with love and energy and celebrate her success. Because when one person achieves success it feels like all of our success.
This belief in each other and love for celebrating one another is the driving force moving us forward as we work towards our home opener versus Wisconsin this weekend.
7th inning, two outs, a 3-2 count and Morgan Newport is up to bat. No matter the opponent or if we are down to our last swing, I will still choose us every time.
(Watch to see why)
Who's bringing the juice?!?! @MorganNewport18 is bringing the juice!!!!
— Northwestern Softball (@NUSBcats) March 14, 2021
2 RBI triple brings in @rlewis_11 and @jordynrudd63 (who scored despite losing a shoe rounding third)
T7 | NU 3, OSU 2 pic.twitter.com/XAUvpz9X0m
That faith did not magically appear in this very moment of game #3 vs. Ohio State when Newport hit a screaming line drive to give us the lead in the seventh and what we needed to close the door on the series. That feeling has been building inside me and all of my teammates over these past few months. The craziest part is how the belief was first established off the field. From counting on the teammate to your left and right to run a half gasser in under fifteen seconds so you didn't have to keep running more or yelling at your lifting partner to do one more pull up even if that meant you were the one pushing her up over the bar just so she can get there. Every one of those moments has prepped us for when the game was on the line, no fear was present in our dugout. All I could sense was the sheer confidence we held in knowing she was going to get the hit, we were just waiting to see which pitch it would happen on. As I held my breath, the energy built inside me and I could see my teammates ready to explode and do what we love most, celebrating one another.
As our team is twelve games into the season and starting to discover our identity, what shines through above all is our genuine love towards one another! Here is another angle of Newport's steller at bat, but this time pay attention to the raw emotion of my team's reaction.
Newport triples on a 3-2 count in the top of the seventh w/ two-outs to take the lead.
— Tara Henry (@notarabledays) March 14, 2021
Love the dugout celebration. Stay till the end of the video. @NUSBcats up by one. Last shot for the Buckeyes. pic.twitter.com/r99zdVu16U
There is no faking our pure enthusiasm of wanting to scream at the top of our lungs to celebrate each other and then the urgent need we feel to get our teammates in the dugout and surround them in our newly famous Northwestern softball pit. The pit can occur in our team's dugout, on any field or stadium; it comes alive whenever a player does something significant that brings the juice to put us in a winning position. The celebration of the pit can occur from a crucial walk, moving the runner over, a big hit, and any time you touch home. After any of those moments, every person in our dugout starts jumping and yelling 'get in the pit', waiting for her teammate(s) to enter the dugout so we can surround her with love and energy and celebrate her success. Because when one person achieves success it feels like all of our success.
This belief in each other and love for celebrating one another is the driving force moving us forward as we work towards our home opener versus Wisconsin this weekend.
Players Mentioned
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