Missouri State softball head coach Holly Hesse has never had as many local products on her roster as she does right now.
“In the past it has been just a few local girls throughout the year here and there,” said Missouri State junior and Kickapoo High School alum Chloe Merced. “I really think that goes to show just how much the sport has grown. Overall, but specifically in this area.”
Among the other three local standouts is Ozark High School alum Abby Ford, who envisioned playing for the softball Bears from a young age.
“I remember a time in probably sixth or seventh grade, I came to watch a game,” said the Missouri State sophomore. “It was against Mizzou. I remember it really clearly and I remember thinking this is where I want to be, this is where I want to play.”
Abby and the other three area players crossed paths before becoming Bears.
“We connected that we were all at the same tournament,” said Forsyth High School alum and Missouri State senior Emily Shipman. “It was crazy to think like all the different roads we took and we are all here again.”
Merced and Taylor Akers were on the same high school team. They transferred some of their traditions from Kickapoo to college.
“We’re the Kickapoo Chiefs so, [like] the Kansas City Chiefs, when we do the national anthem we always say ‘home of the Chiefs’,” Chloe said. “[We] still do that from high school, so we can hear each other when we are lined up for the anthem.”
Taylor thinks back to those high school games, including one against Abby.
“Abby was about to beat a state record in triples my junior year,” said the Kickapoo alum and Missouri State freshman. “And I threw her out at a triple one time and that one would have been her record-breaking one. So when we first [played together] here it was like ‘really!?'”
All jokes aside, Emily says that having familiar faces in the dugout is a perk but this team’s culture makes it so easy for the team to mesh. No matter a teammate’s distance from Missouri State to home.
