A talented young softball player from southeast Saskatchewan has committed to play at a higher level for the 2021-22 school year.
Morgan Walter, a centrefielder and middle infielder, will play for the McCook Community College Indians in McCook, Neb. 鈥� a junior college team that plays in the National Junior Collegiate Athletics Association鈥檚 (NJCAA) Division 1 ranks. She will be studying sport and recreation management, with a coaching minor.聽
The NJCAA is for two-year collegiate programs.
She said she selected the college for several reasons, most notably the size of McCook, as it is similar to Estevan.
鈥淚鈥檓 just a small town girl, so I don鈥檛 like anything too big. And then another thing is their softball program is developing really well. Last year they had an outstanding overall record for their season, and the coach is really doing a great job of building the program, and he does a wonderful job of transferring his students out into Division 1 colleges.鈥�
Last season the Indians had a 38-14 record, which she said is outstanding for a junior college. The coach is in his second year with the program.
She thought this would be a great opportunity to get a little more experience at the collegiate level, and then transfer to an National Collegiate Athletics Association Division 1 school.
鈥淎cademically, it has all of the courses that I want to take that will help better my degree so far,鈥� she said.
Walter committed to play for the University of Mary in Bismarck, N.D., in 2018, and spent her first year there in 2019-20. Then she took a year off school and decided not to return to the U.S. due to the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic.
She wound up playing with the University of Regina Cougars and spent a year taking classes from home, but decided to finish her collegiate career in the U.S., because that was her dream.
Her time at the University of Mary was great, she said, but she suffered multiple injuries that knocked her out of the lineup.
鈥淚f it wasn鈥檛 for the pandemic, I definitely would have gone back there, but like I said, due to a few injuries and whatnot, that left me out of the lineup come my freshman year.鈥�
If she would have gone back for a sophomore year, Walter believes she would have had a good year.聽
Walter, who has been playing softball since she was six years old, is grateful to local softball for the contributions to her development, and to her parents for all they have done for her.
鈥淚 can鈥檛 do it myself, so if it wasn鈥檛 for them, I wouldn鈥檛 be here,鈥� she said.
