Over half of the Albion College student body participates in one of 23 varsity sports teams on campus. The college places an emphasis on competing at a high level in the NCAA Division III while also excelling each day in the classroom.
The vast number of student-athletes on campus have a multitude of backgrounds, including many unique players that often go unnoticed.
In order to truly appreciate all of the student-athletes who make up Albion athletics, The Pleiad’s “Beyond the Spotlight” series features a different athlete and the impact they have had on campus.
This Week
Savannah Spring, a senior from Waterford, Mich., is a member of Albion’s softball team. Spring is a psychology major with an anthropology and sociology minor. Spring is also the softball team’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) representative and is on the SAAC executive board.
While looking at colleges, Spring appreciated the small school atmosphere that Albion offered and loved the softball coaches as well. Spring also admires the attitude Division lll players have, all of which are factors that led her to decide to play softball for Albion.
“Playing Division lll is more of a you want to be here, rather than you have to be here,” said Spring.
Since starting at Albion, Spring has put hard work into the team, both in and out of practice.
During practice, Spring attempts to be the best player she can be, particularly when it comes to adjusting her hitting style. When Spring came into Albion, she was a right-handed hitter, and now she is a left-handed stopper. In softball, switching the side of the box a player hits takes time and dedication.
“You have to work hard,” said Spring. “Just because it is Division lll doesn’t mean you are any less than a Division ll or Division l College. It’s all about hard work.”
Off the field, Spring leads by example. Spring isn’t always the loudest person on the field, but her actions speak for her. Being one of two seniors remaining from the original twelve players in her incoming class also shows her dedication to the sport.
“I’ve never been a quitter. I always try to follow through with things. I kind of knew that coming into this program and this school that we were in the rebuilding process for the softball team. So, I knew we needed people to stick it out and we needed hard-workers and quitting wasn’t going to get us any closer to our goal of being top in the conference,” said Spring.
Starting off the season, the softball team was off to a great start toward their goal of being the top team in the conference. With a wins to losses ratio of nine to three, the team had their best opening week ever this year during their training trip in Florida.
Kicking off the season with a great start has made the season coming to an end just after starting much more difficult for the team.
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