Mariah Bell '22 Recruiting Profile

    I believe the biggest things that make me different than most girls as an athlete are my athleticism, work ethic, the ability to learn new things quickly, and competitiveness.  When I was around 2 and a half years old my parents signed me up for dance.  By the time I was 7 years old I was a part of the competitive advanced team. I had to learn to balance a demanding after-school schedule in which some nights I would not get home until 9:30 at night sometimes later, throughout all of this I have always found a way to get honor roll on every report card. This continued until I was in the 8th grade when I decided that I wanted to be more involved in sports with my friends from school, and I was ready for a new challenge. Dance, however, taught me a lot of lessons that I carry with me every day. Such as hard work, how to manage time with school and other activities, teamwork, and how to push myself beyond even what I believe is possible. 

    When I began playing softball I knew that I had a lot of work to do to become the player I wanted to be. I set a goal to be the best not just in my school but my county and conference but I knew that the only way that was possible was to work every day to be 1% better.  The summer between my 8th and 9th-grade year my Dad took me to the field every day and taught me fielding and hitting. I learned that my athletic ability was only going to take me so far and that to be the player and the athlete I wanted to be I would have to commit to working at it, so my goal has been to do something every day to make myself better.               

    My dream is to continue to play the game of softball for as long as I can. This coming year I want to continue to improve on every area of  the game. In College, I want to pursue a degree in either occupational therapy or sports medicine.