Senior softball players reflect on time with program

IU softball coach Michelle Gardner watched the last team practice of the regular season from behind home plate on a warm spring day and reminisced about the season she had witnessed and the three seniors that she would lose at the conclusion of the Hoosiers’ season, presumably in the NCAA Tournament.

Whenever that moment may come, seniors Morgan Melloh, Sara Olson and Kelsey Stander will have gone through their four years of eligibility, making the 2011 postseason their last hurrah in the cream and crimson.  

As the season comes to the climax, first baseman Sara Olson said she is completely focused on the team and not the inevitability of the end of her college career.

“I guess it crosses my mind, but right now I’m not even worried about that,” Olson said. “I’m worried about what our team is doing and where we’re going to go from here, the next series and the future of what’s going to happen with the team this year.”

During her only season in Bloomington, starting pitcher Morgan Melloh has excelled in the circle, racking up numerous accolades but never wavering on the goals of the team.

Gardner said she sees Melloh as a great example of the kind of attitude that exemplifies what IU softball is all about.

“She cares about her teammates, she cares about her team,” Gardner said. “Yes, it’s great to be a great pitcher, and she gets a lot of accolades. She’s missed a few little things here and there, but Morgan doesn’t care about that. Morgan wants us to do well as a program.”

Even though the three seniors will be out of eligibility, two won’t be entirely gone from the Hoosiers’ program. Melloh and Olson will be around to help with the team during the 2011-2012 season.

“Sara and I will be back for assistant coaching, but we have both been there pitching, hitting and fielding,” Melloh said. “We can take our skills and hand them over to the younger players.”  

The third senior in the group, Kelsey Stander, will be attending a nursing graduate program in Massachusetts, but the outfielder explained that she will not soon forget her time in Bloomington.

“It’s kind of surreal,” Stander said. “I don’t really think it is going to hit me until it is over. I’m sad, but I am so glad about the experience I had, especially senior year, so it couldn’t have ended better.”

While the players had their own emotions about their careers being over, Gardner had some very strong feelings toward the three seniors as their playing days come to a close.  

“Obviously I am very sad to see any one of them go because it has been quite a journey,” Gardner said. “With Morgan it has been one year, but she has done amazing things, and Sara and Kelsey have been here since I got here, so it’s a different feeling.”