For Tinley Travis, the goal for this season at Maize was clear: help her team finally earn the chance to host regionals after falling just short in previous years.
“My primary focus for this season was to host regionals,” Travis said. “We have been one game away every season, so we worked hard to secure our hosting spot this season.”
To reach that goal, Travis said the team focused on fundamentals and consistency, putting extra emphasis on the small details that often decide close games.
“To accomplish this, we focused a lot on the little things, base running, communication, and team chemistry,” she said.
One of Travis’ biggest strengths on the field is her leadership through communication, especially in her role working with the pitching staff.
“I would consider my biggest strength to be communication,” she said. “Talking on the field is very important not only for the team but for our pitchers.”
She said that constant communication plays a major role in building confidence and keeping the defense organized during high-pressure moments.
“I utilize this mostly by talking to my pitchers,” Travis said. “Pitching and catching is very hard, and when they have a voice behind them it helps their confidence.”
Along with leadership, Travis has focused heavily on improving her defense, particularly her lateral movement at shortstop. After a strong season last year, she said she still pushed herself to grow.
“My main focus this season has been defense, specifically moving laterally,” she said. “I came off a pretty good season last year, but I wasn’t satisfied and knew I could do better this year.”
That mindset carried into extra work outside of practice, where she and her teammates put in additional reps to sharpen their skills.
“After workouts on the weekdays, a few of us softball girls would go out to the field and hit each other ground balls and work on making athletic plays look routine,” she said.
For Travis, success this season goes beyond wins and losses.
“A successful season to me would be that we all step off the field no matter when our season ends knowing we have given it our all and most of all had fun doing it,” she said. “We are hoping to go to state and you never know what can happen, but knowing we have given it our all is the end goal.”
