Interview with the softball team outfielders

The softball team has really come on strong over the last month of the season. They’ve gone 14-3 since April 1st, and go into the OVC tournament as the 2nd seed. Today, we spoke with the outfielders for the softball team; Seniors Chrissy O’Neal, Mary Beth Ledbetter, Hillary Downs, and Freshman Krystal Ruth. We’ve seen and heard about their play on the field. We wanted to take a few moments and get to know them a little better.

We’ll cover the big story first…
Q: What do you do when you’re not playing softball?

Mary Beth: Chrissy got a job.

Q: Chrissy, you got a job?

Chrissy: Yes. I accepted a job offer. I’ll start as a probation officer in Americus, GA. (Congratulations to Chrissy. She was a criminal justice major and has already graduated. She’s been taking graduate classes this semester.)

Q: Besides Chrissy finding a job, what do you do when you’re not playing softball?

Hillary: Softball takes a lot of time. When we’re not playing, we eat, sleep, and rest.

Q: What kinds of music do you like?

Mary Beth: I like country. That’s about all I listen to.

Chrissy, Hillary, and Krystal: we listen to everything, all kinds of music.

Q: Do you all get to pick the song they play when you come to bat?

All: Yes, we get to pick the song.

Q: Tell me a little about your teammates. Who is the funniest person on the team?

Hillary and Chrissy: Probably Sallie (Beth Burch).

Mary Beth: I was going to say Ashley (Eliasson).

All: It would have to be Sallie or Ashley.

Q: Who is the most competitive?

All: We can’t say there is just one person. We are all extremely competitive.

Q: Which teammate is the neatest and has to have everything in it’s place?

Chrissy: I will say Amanda (Crow). (Everyone agreed)

Q: Who has the highest GPA?

Mary Beth: Not me.

Hillary: It’s probably Chrissy.

Q: For any of you, what is the most memorable moment so far this season?

Krystal: For me, it was my first homerun.

Q: Krystal you’re a freshman. Where are you from and how did you select JSU?

Krystal: I’m from Texas. Jacksonville State showed an interest in me and I came for a visit. When I got here, it just felt right.

Q: Krystal, you’ve made a successful transition from high school to college softball. What helped the most?

Krystal: As an outfielder, I’ve gotten a lot of help from my teammates. These three seniors have been the biggest help to me. They’ve made it easy for me.

Q: We know Chrissy will be beginning her career next month. Mary Beth and Hillary, what do you plan to do after your senior season?

Mary Beth: I’ll graduate next year, then hopefully get a job and get married.

Hillary: I plan to get my masters degree at JSU.

Q: Krystal, how are you doing in your classes?

Krystal: I made all A’s this semester.

Q: What’s the biggest difference in this team from the first week of the season until now?

Hillary: We’re not even the same team.

Chrissy: We’re hitting, fielding, doing things like we are supposed to now. We’re playing like Gamecocks.

Q: You had two consecutive weekends of travel and rain-outs. No softball games for two weeks. What did you expect this weekend after all of the down time?
Chrissy: Nothing different.

Hillary: We expected to play just the way we did.

Mary Beth: We expected to win.

Q: What did you do with your time when you were on the road and all of the games got rained out?

Chrissy: We played a lot of ping pong.

Hillary: We played baseball in the hotel.

Mary Beth: While playing baseball, we thought we set off an alarm in the hotel. We later found out we didn’t do it.

Chrissy: We did get to see some of the flooding off to the side of the interstate while we were in Tennessee.

Hillary: We were wondering if we were going to be able to get back to Jacksonville.

Q: For the seniors, 10 years from now, and not counting what happens for the rest of this season, what will you remember the most from your time at JSU?

All: It would definitely be winning the regionals last year.

Hillary: Also, it’s just been so much fun being on this team. I’ll always remember how much fun it was.

Q: Do you know who you play yet in the OVC tournament?

All: No, we have to see who wins the first round game.

Q: Does it matter to you who you play?

All: No. We’ll play any team. We want to win, so we want to beat every team we play, no matter who it is.

Good luck the rest of the way ladies.