Ava Chadwick '26 Recruiting Profile

Softball has been apart of my life for a very long time. In fact, I have been playing for about 11 years! I started out in tee-ball and machine pitch, where I was not the best hitter. So after that, I switched to softball, and I never looked back. I had a naturally very strong arm and good throwing mechanics and my hitting improved a lot. I played red for a while until I threw a ball as hard as I could from third base straight to a girl’s chest. That was when we realized I needed to start travel ball. And I did. When I was 8 years old in the winter, I joined a 10u travel team, and while we did struggle a little during the season, we won our last tournament against a very fast pitcher. All the glory in that moment goes to God because that win helped me grow in my love for softball, and I kept pursuing it. In my first year of 12u, we did not win a single tournament, and I was actually considering quitting. However, I went to try out for another team and fell back in love with softball again. I moved to that team with a teammate for my second year of 12u and first year of 14u (I was playing with girls about 2-3 years older than me), and it was not great. There was not a lot of team chemistry, and some teammates did not like me very much, but there were still some teammates that did. After that, I decided to move to another team and hour away for my house. I wanted to make the higher level team, but I didn’t and played on the lowest level. I was frustrated, but still worked hard. However, this is what got me hurt. One day, I felt a pain in my shoulder, but this was the first time I felt it, so I ignored it. However, the pain kept showing up and later found out that I had Little League Shoulder, which is a fracture in the growth plate. I could not throw for 3-4 months, and I was upset that I couldn’t play. However, I still did everything I could. I hit with one arm and learned how to throw with my left hand a little. What I really found interesting though was that almost every tournament I never played in for the spring season got rained out. I felt like this was God telling me that I was meant to play, and when I got back, we placed second in our last tournament. But when the season ended, I moved teams again to my current organization, Gold Coast Hurricanes, which is 2 hours away from my house. I played my third and final year of 14u there (I was playing up for the first one). I had to drive 2 hours 2 days a week to practice, and I am so grateful for my stents for doing that since I wouldn’t be here without their support. I enjoyed that team most of all because we played very good competition, and there was really good team chemistry. Everything was great, until it wasn’t. I found out at a practice that my coaches would not be coaching next season, and I didn’t know what to do. I had tried out for what felt like every team in America, and I felt like I had nowhere else to go if I never made another team in my organization. However, I tried out for my old team around where I lived, SOMD Ospreys 15u, and the 18u national team for Gold Coast. When I tried out for the national team, I went in with little hope that I was going to make the team. However, during the tryout, my current coach came up to me and said “Are you ready to make the jump?” I couldn’t believe it. I had the chance to play with a team that would be playing the highest level of softball. I said yes, and I think that was the best decision I could have made. In the fall, I started out rough, hurting only .200. However, during my high school season, I really turned it around. I was hitting .465, had a 1.301 OPS, had 27 hits, 10 doubles, and 3 home runs. I was even named second team all-conference for the WCAC! Now that I am back with my travel team, I feel unstoppable. We are playing really good competition, and I love it. I could not have asked for a better team, better coaches, or better parents. I am so grateful to everyone who has helped me along on my journey. Through all of these people’s help, I have become hard-working, dedicated, and really strong. I work my hardest for all that everyone has done for me. I get up between 4 and 5:15 in the morning when I have school so I can go to the gym. I take 4 honors classes, and have straight A’s with a 4.29 GPA. I practice every day in my barn perfecting my hitting, pitching, and catching. I do all of this in dreams of getting recruited to a top level school for softball, but still somewhere where I can thrive academically as well (like a place that has my intended majors of engineering and date science or statistics). I may be only 15, but I’m not done working. I’m not done yet.