Ananda Rockita

(April, 2010) The Mount Softball team has had a good start this season winning 12 of their 10 games thus far. The team consists of 22 players mostly from the New Jersey and Maryland area.

Mount Softball has had one of their best seasons yet. They are currently in the lead in the conference and talent is just one of the things that makes this team succeed. Each softball player follows a strict regiment that consists of 6AM practices and also afternoon ones as well.

One of the natives around the area is Junior Jenna Zimmerman. Zimmerman is a Maryland native from Walkersville, started playing the sport at the age of six and advanced to playing baseball with the boys until the age of 11. "I played 12 and under with the Maryland Flames, then played with the Maryland Stars for a few years, then the Walkersville Gators, and this past summer I played with the Maryland Stars 20 and over team," stated Zimmerman. "I love the game of softball and dedicate a lot of my time to this sport."

While in high school, Zimmerman nabbed numerous honors. She was named Walkersville High School Rookie of the Year, earned Frederick News Post All-County first team honors only as a sophomore in high school, and was also selected as one of the top 32 senior players in Maryland to play in the Old Line Classic All-Star game.

While at the Mount as a shortstop, she made 42 starts alone as a sophomore.

Zimmerman chose the Mount because it was close to home. She was also interested in playing softball in college and heard that the Mount had a growing softball program. Zimmerman also had a star athlete that played for the Mount as well. "My cousin Bret Fouche went to the Mount and was on the Mount baseball team," stated Zimmerman, "He was a pitcher and graduated in 2003"

Zimmerman plans on playing softball for all four years at the Mount and play in a league over the summer. "It would be hard for me to give up the game of softball totally because I have a lot of love and passion for the sport," stated Zimmerman. "In the future, I hope one day my kids want to play softball because I want to be able to coach them from the start!"

Two other seniors will not be seen next coming year that have made drastic strides in improving the team. Seniors Allie Vadas and Lisa Curreri are two star Mount athletes.

Senior Allie Vadas is from Red Bank N.J. and was born to be an athlete. Her oldest brother was recruited to play basketball in college and her younger brother was just named conference player of the year. "The Vadas siblings are always either playing sports, watching sports, or competing over something," stated Vadas.

Vadas was attracted to softball as just another sport she could participate in the spring. Little did she know at the time, it would effect her decision to enter college. Her father coached her older brothers' baseball teams so she was always around the field and the game. When she was around the age of eight, she started playing softball, and the rest became history.

Surprisingly, Vadas heard about the Mount from a family she babysat back in New Jersey. "Ever since I started babysitting for me they would tell me the great times they had at the Mount," stated Vadas.

When she entered junior year looking at potential colleges, she came to the Mount and loved it. During her visit, she was able to explore what the softball team had to offer her, including an excellent mentor and coach. "The Mount was one of the three schools I got accepted to and I chose this one because it was the best fit for me," stated Vadas.

Not only has the Mount become her home away from New Jersey, but Emmitsburg as well. "The people are very friendly and always offer a 'hello' in passing. They are also genuinely concerned with the success of the Mount teams and supporting them," stated Vadas. However her favorite part of the Emmitsburg community are the girls who come out to their clinic in January. "We spend the day with the girls playing softball and it is really fun to see how excited they get when something good happens!"

While in college, Vadas was named Most Valuable Player just in her freshman campaign and she has also been on the Northeast Conference All-Academic Team for the past four years.

Even though Vadas is completely devoted to her schoolwork and also her athletics, she still knows how to have fun together with the team. "We have a good group of girls that get along really well," stated Vadas. "My favorite moment this year is when we win the NEC tournament and celebrate!"

Senior Lisa Curreri is also another player with outstanding records to her name. She already broke records in runs, hits, and doubles in the team's history. Curreri is from Clinton N.J. and started playing tee ball with her older brother in kindergarten. "As I got older my parents realized that there was no competitive girls softball league in the area," stated Curreri. "So my parents and some of their friends decided to start a girls softball league." From the age of six or eight was when she first started playing the sport.

Curreri realized she wanted to play collegiate softball in the eighth grade and knew that it would allow her to learn about the sport and also play at a high competitive level. At first she was only looking at colleges around New Jersey, but she changed her mind due to the Mount's reputation. "I chose the Mount because of their great academics," stated Curreri. "I loved the campus and the fact that it was a small school, it wasn't too far from my home, and I really loved the softball team."

As for Curreri's future, she will be still in the sport field helping others. "I will be attending graduate school for sport psychology at Seton Hall University in the fall," stated Curreri. "After I get my Masters, I would like to work with athletes, at the high school, college, or maybe even professional level, on the mental aspect of their game."

While Curreri's time playing softball and also the four years on the softball team, she has learned a lot and believed it could help others. "I have realized the importance of a positive attitude and being mentally ready," stated Curreri. "I would also love to coach in the future."

Since this is Curreri's last year being on the time there have been many moments that she will hold most dear. One of the moments was a game against Long Island University in the previous season in which they were very close in beating. "The past few years Long Island has always beat up on us and we always seem kind of afraid of them," stated Curreri. "But we played to win and we came out on top."

Not only is Curreri modest in her successes, but she also thanks her family and her previous softball coaches for her achievements. "So much of their time, effort, and money was put to helping me become the best player I could," stated Curreri. "My brother was also always there supporting me and helping me out when I was struggling."

The Mount Softball season is gearing to close and make sure to catch one of their games during the spring. Their schedule is posted on mountathletics.com.