Tai Smith shows softball skills on the field

Oswego, NY- A softball field. It’s a place where many young women dream of playing at a collegiate level. For our athlete of the week, this dream came true. 

Tai Smith’s fascination with softball began with Little League when she was in fifth grade. However, once her parents introduced her to travel softball in her sophomore year of high school, that fascination turned into an obsession. Through travel softball, she learned how to reach out to coaches and eventually landed at SUNY Oswego to continue her athletic career.

She joined the softball program in 2020, but due to the pandemic, she, along with her teammates, never saw the field.

That didn’t hinder her spirits, though. She returned to the program in 2021 where she played as a “utility” player. 

“Utility means that I can play anywhere on the field besides pitcher and catcher. I played third in the game versus Potsdam and second in that game versus Potsdam. So, I guess it just means that I can play many different positions and it’s not listed as one certain one,” Smith said.

Smith had her standout game this past week against SUNY Potsdam where she had three hits, drove in five RBIs, and scored two runs. All her efforts helped her team get the victory 13-3.

Smith and the softball team currently sit at 8-17 on the season with a 3-5 SUNYAC conference record, which has them just out of playoff contention. Though Smith is hopeful about her team’s ability to make it to this milestone and even win it all.

“I know that our team wants to do our best and continue to get some wins on the board so we can get ourselves clinched in SUNYACS and try to make it as far as we can. Because if we do win SUNYACS, we’d make history for Oswego softball, so that’d be great.” 

History indeed, as a softball SUNYAC championship would be the first for the program in its history.