Record Breaking Softball Player Remembers the Journey
May 10, 2021
Memphis, TN -- Delaney Smith is coming to an end to her college career and athletic career at Memphis University. Delaney was a very good student athlete at Rhea County High School and she excelled on the softball field at Rhea County and at Memphis. Before finishing her softball career, she broke the Memphis Universityh stolen base record. with her 79th steal of the season as she finished her career with 81 stolen bases and went 16 for 16 in her senior year. At the beginning of her senior year she had a 311 average with 65 stolen bases, with 102 runs scored and 11 doubles, 12 triples and 2 home runs.
Delaney back on signing day at Rhea County High School.
Describe some of your favorite softball moments at Memphis.
Favorite softball moments: my freshman year we beat ole miss twice, and that was the year after they had just won the SEC, another one of my favorite moments would have to be whenever this last homes series actually, one of my teammates hit the furthest homerun I’ve ever seen and we just went crazy. The energy was up throughout the entire game and We all just brought everything we had in that game.
What have you learned about softball during your career at Memphis?
One thing I’ve learned about softball while being here is that it’s not always how you play, but it’s how you respond to failure. Being a collegiate athlete and playing some of the top teams in the nation, it’s hard work. Learning to stay present every pitch whether it’s on defense or offense is key because if you are caught up dwelling on the last at bat, a bad call, or an error you are going to continue to go into a downward spiral.
What are your immediate future plans after graduation?
My future is still a little uncertain, I have a lot of job opportunities waiting once I graduate but having to decide what the right fit is is the hard part. I’ll be moving home for now at least , just so I can take small steps into the real world instead of being thrown into it.
Talk about the effect of Covid-19 on your time at Memphis.
Covid really affected these past 2 years. My junior year was cut short I think maybe 25 games in. Once we had a little more clarification during the summer about getting another year of eligibility due to covid, I wasn’t as worried because I thought I was going to be able to take a covid year. Unfortunately that only applied to the seniors from last year. I could take my 5th year, but because Schools had to reduce the budgets of their athletics, I would end up having to pay for it and i don’t want to do that whenever I will be out of college with no debt whatsoever. Another thing that it majorly impacted was our fall semester. We had to start practice in small groups, lifts in small groups, we covid tested every week. We weren’t able to hangout with anyone else but our teammates, and we couldn’t go out to any social gatherings. Over Christmas break, our athletic trainer sent us home with 6 covid tests to take while we were gone. In the spring, we had to come back early from break and quarantine for a week before getting tested and getting the ok to start practice. Then once we started playing we were covid tested the day before we played and then 48 hours after we finished our last game. I couldn’t tell you how many times we’ve had to test. Things are somewhat getting back to normal, but it really hit us hard.
Did you set and meet any goals for your time at Memphis?
Overall I met the goals I wanted to achieve while playing and also academically. My freshman spring was definitely my hardest academically. I struggled some with time management and just being a little overwhelmed because we would travel everywhere. Once I got past my first season, my time management definitely improved.
Do you have any advice for high school seniors heading for college?
My advice to incoming freshman in college is to go away for college. I was a little homesick at first but I pushed through and it was the best decision I’ve ever made. You get to meet new people and you make lifelong friendship and memories. Another piece of advice is to not stress about deciding on a major right away. I think something I regret would be coming in , not really sure what I was wanting to do so I went with public relations for a semester, then I was a physical education major for 2 semesters, and then finally I switched to business administration. I took a lot of classes that I didn’t need and instead of just coming in undecided I thought I had to have my mind made up. The ncaa has a rule where athletes must declare a major by their junior year and once they declare it they can’t change it, so luckily I was happy with my final change to business administration.
Talk about your faith and how that was effected during your time in college.
I feel like my faith and my relationship with God actually got stronger while I was in college. A couple of my teammates and I found a church out here that we really like. It’s the Life Church. During the fall we are able to attend the Sunday service but we play every Sunday during the spring, so we would watch the recording online on our way home from a trip. I think the reason my faith got stronger is because I was around people from all different backgrounds and not everyone had the same set of beliefs or morals that I do, and so I realized really quick how important it was to have God as my number one priority so I didn’t get sucked into something that would alter my views. I also think it helped that my coach is also a big believer and so she openly would talk about God and we always prayed before and after games, practices, and meals. I felt like no one pressed religion on me or anything like that, I was just surrounded by strong believers most of the time here because all I really hangout with was my teammates and I think just seeing God’s plans for me unfold really helped me keep such a strong relationship with Him.