Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell's Katie McDonald Looks Toward Final Softball Season as a Bison
12/2/2008 7:00:00 AM | Softball
Dec. 2, 2008
The Bucknell softball student-athletes will be checking in throughout the season as the team begins its drive for a Patriot League Championship. Here is the first installment from senior psychology major and pitcher, Katie McDonald.
More Student-Athlete Journals:
As the first semester of my senior year is coming to an end, it is finally starting to hit me that my four years here at Bucknell are almost over as well. I have already chosen my last four college courses, and I am in the process of applying to law school. Everyone keeps telling me how tough my first year of law school will be, and I am sure that it will be a big adjustment to go from my undergraduate work here at Bucknell to whichever law school I end up attending. What most law students and lawyers do not realize, however, is the other huge adjustment that I will be forced to make: the end of my softball career.
I have been playing softball since I was seven years old, and I have loved it since the first time I picked up a ball. My dad has been catching for me, then, for 14 years, and it has brought us even closer than we already were. I played other sports growing up, but softball was always my passion, and I have devoted countless hours to the game to get to where I am today. I had always dreamed of playing at the collegiate level, and when the opportunity arose for me to continue my career at Division I Bucknell, I was thrilled. My experiences throughout the last three and a half years have confirmed my belief that I was not only born to play softball, but that I was meant to play for the Bucknell Bison.
I have seen the program improve every year since I have been here, and we are no longer satisfied without a bid to the Patriot League Tournament that seemed to be almost out of reach when I was a freshman. Every member of this team is equally as passionate about the sport, and the close friendships that exist among all of us only add to our preexisting talents. We really are 22 sisters who would do anything for each other, and I will truly miss every Bison that I have ever stepped onto the field with.
I will also miss the incredible rush that I get whenever I step into the circle. It is indescribable; the feeling that the course of the game rests on my shoulders with every pitch that I throw. I thrive under this pressure, and I am hoping that the mental toughness I am still working to develop as a pitcher will help me in the future as much as it has helped me to improve throughout my tenure here at Bucknell. I could not be more excited for our 2009 season to start, and even though it means the end of my personal career, my fellow seniors and I have worked hard to build a tradition of greatness that we hope will live on for as long as there is Bucknell Softball.
