Tori Vikel '27 Recruiting Profile

My name is Tori Vikel and going to college to play softball has always been a dream of mine since I was little. I have been playing softball since I was five years old. Starting with t-ball and working my way up to the varsity level in which I play now. When I was five years old I remember watching the high school softball team play and thinking to myself, "I want to be like them." Ever since that moment I have worked my hardest to work towards the goal of playing at a collegiate level.

I have always been a catcher, this has granted me with great framing, blocking, throwing, and communication skills. As a catcher I learned that you can see the entire field and since I have that view, I have to be able to communicate with my teammates. As a third baseman I have learned how to field different kinds of balls that are hit. There are a lot of hard hit balls that take bounces that are hard to read. Due to those hard hit balls and catching, I have become a solid "wall." I have played on multiple different softball teams with different coaches for each team. I am coach-able and willing to make changes to everything that I do in order to become a better softball player.

Year round I play softball. In my seventh grade year I played for a travel softball team, Johnson County Jaguars. Our team went to a state tournament in Iowa and won! With the Jaguars we played games throughout the fall, spring, and summer. The winter was our off time however, we still had practices and I went to open gyms for high school softball. After we won the state tournament I said my goodbyes to that team and focused completely on school softball. My 8th grade year I played on a travel team that went through the West Branch high school softball team. I played on the 18U teams as a thirteen year old. Playing on an older team that young gave me experience that I didn't think I would need that summer. In the winter of 2023 I learned from the varsity head coach that I had earned a spot on varsity, just from attending open gyms. Even though I was told I earned a spot, I knew that it could be easily taken away. So I worked endlessly to push myself to get better. When the season began, I started varsity at first base. My coach then had me catch, that was when he discovered my passion for catching. Ever since then I mainly catch varsity and sometimes play third base. For the Junior Varsity team I play both third base and shortstop. 

In the classroom I work extremely hard. I know how much my future relies on my grades and focus in the classroom. I have a 4.0 GPA as of the end of my eighth grade year. I volunteer at the Springdale United Methodist Church right down the road from my house. I received Academic Awards both my seventh and eighth grade year, which were the only two years that they handed them out due to COVID. Both years I received them in Science, Math, Reading, Language Arts, and Social Studies. Instead of taking Math 8 my eighth grade year I took the high school class Algebra 1. 

I would like to attend a college where I am able to push myself as an athlete. I would also like to be able to excel in the field of study that I attended. I would like to attend physical therapy however, that could always change. I am willing to make changes to make myself not only a better athlete but also a student athlete. I want to succeed to accomplish goals that I have had for a long time and also make my family members proud.