Littlefield’s Tricia Torres signed her Letter of Intent last Tuesday to continue her softball and academic career at Highline College in Des Moines, Washington.
Torres talked about what it means to her to be able to continue her career saying, “It’s exciting. After I got hurt in Muleshoe, I decided I didn’t want my career to end like that. Coach [Keith] Logan helped set me up an account on FieldLevel.com and then we were just waiting for something right. I got some offers from schools in Texas, but Coach Kristine Foley contacted me and it just felt right.”
She added, “It means a lot to me to have this opportunity, because not everybody from here gets an offer like I got. Not everybody from a small town gets these opportunities, so I feel very lucky and I am very grateful to have this opportunity.”
Torres stated, after sitting there and watching our last game with me not being able to contribute, I thought to myself, “dang, this is how it’s going to end? Without me actually playing”?
“I decided then, that’s not how I wanted it to be and that I wanted to keeping playing,” she said.
Torres said that she was backand- forth between JV and varsity during her freshman year.
“I got moved up to varsity during my sophomore year,” she explained. “Coach [Cory] Golden really gave me the opportunity to believe in myself, because I was nervous, but he gave me the confidence (Submitted that I needed.”
She added, “When Coach Logan took over, he really put it in me that I was going to be the next leader and I needed to show up, and that is what I did. With Coach Castillo and Coach Perry, they were always there to give me extra pointers if I wasn’t understanding something and pushing to want to do extra in drills and have just always been there pushing me to be better.”
Torres explained that the coaches asked her about all of the positions she has played and told her that she’ll be primarily used as a catcher and a utility player.
Torres talked about what her contact with the coaching staff has been like saying, “We had a zoom meeting and Coach Foley was completely different from the coaches I am used to. The one thing that sucks about high school sports is that we don’t really get the chance to meet different people, for the most part the people you play with are people you have played with your whole life. We talked and she just came off different to me and really made me feel like she wanted me there.”
She added, “The next thing you know, she sent me the papers and I signed to play for them. She just gave off really good energy and the team is big on team bonding and that’s what I like about here in Littlefield, we grew up together and played together and that is kind of what I was looking for, something like a home and that’s what the team and that coach gave me.”
Torres explained that she is looking forward to going somewhere different. “Coach Foley said that next year we’re supposed to be traveling and playing teams from Canada and different places,” she said. I’m really looking forward to all of the different experiences because everything is so different than high school and faster pace and I’m just looking forward to that.”
She added, “I’m expecting it to be hard and for it to be kind of shaky at first because I will be the new one there. But, other than that I think it will be really good and we’re supposed to do a lot of team bonding. Everyone that plays softball lives in the same dorms, so I would be with them a lot and a lot of them have the same career concept as I do.”
The Littlefield graduate talked about how she has seen herself grow over the last few years, saying, “Before my freshman year I always felt like I was kind of shy and timid and then as high school went on and after playing summer league together, I became less timid and more aggressive and assertive with what I wanted from everybody. The relationships that I built with those girls are kind of unbelievable to me that I could have those types of relationships. Even now I still talk to them and they still talk to me, it wasn’t just because I was their captain that year, I actually built a relationship them.”
Torres talked about what it has meant to her to be able to represent Littlefield as a Lady Cat, saying, “It has meant a lot to me.”
“It was probably one of the hardest things to have to do was say goodbye to high school softball,” she explained. “I remember sitting there on senior night and thinking this is the last time I’ll get to walk on this field, play with these girls and experience any of this.”
She added, “All of the coaches have helped me so much. Coach Cozart [Head] was tough on us and it’s good to have that kind of coach. She always put it in me that I’m better than what I think I am. Coach Allcorn, even though he doesn’t coach girls anymore, would still be out there supporting and giving me pointers and helping me.”
Torres was in NHS her junior and senior years, she graduated with honors and earned the Fighting Heart Award for softball, as well as first-team All-District Outfielder.
She talked about her favorite memories as a Lady Cat, saying, “I think when we got our first gold ball in softball this past season, even though I wasn’t able to play and contribute, it was a good feeling to be able to share that moment with those girls, because the year before when we didn’t get it, that hurt a lot.”
She added, “ Also, beating Brownfield was a big one for us because that has always been one of the schools that we needed to beat. That was one of the best moments for me.”
Lastly, Torres talked about her family support, stating, “My family is a little scared, because this is the first time I have ever gone anywhere without them, but they’ve been really supportive through the whole process.”
She added, “I couldn’t find a school that just felt right to me and so I was going to try Wayland Baptist University, but something kept telling me to wait and then I got the offer I wanted.”
Torres plans to major in Kinesiology.
“I haven’t decided if I want to come back and coach or do sports medicine, because both of them I fell in love,” she said.