By Ryan Davenport, WSON Sports Correspondent 

On Monday afternoon, November 13th, Colonel’s senior softball player Alyse Rollings signed to continue her academic and athletic career for Saint Mary of the Woods College.

 

Rollings talked about why Saint Mary of the Woods College was the best fit for her, “So growing up, my dad is actually from Indianapolis and my grandparents have lived there. So I’ve always grown up there in the Indianapolis-Terre Haute area and when I went and toured the campus it just felt like home. Being not too far away from them really made me feel more comfortable about my decision that I was making for the next four years of my life, so it just felt like home.”

 

Rollings discussed her academic plans while attending Saint Mary of the Woods College, “I will be majoring in nursing.” 

 

Rollings discussed how it feels to be officially signed to be a college softball player now, “I wouldn’t say there’s a specific word for it. I mean it’s all the emotions, it’s overwhelming, it’s also very comforting to know that I’m finally living out my dream of playing college softball at the next level and I’m just very thankful for everybody through this journey and getting me to where I’ve always wanted to be at.” 

 

Rollings talked about who she wanted to thank that made this day possible, “A few people. I want to thank obviously my coaches, Coach (Shannon) Troutman, Coach Walker, Josh Woods, he really helped me out through this whole recruiting process. I want to say a big thank you to my parents, big thank you to my dad for all the hours spent traveling, all the money spent and I definitely wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for him. Definitely a big thank you to everybody in our community, all the support and my teammates, just everybody helping me get to where I am today.”

 

Rollings discussed what attracted her to want to play college softball at Saint Mary of the Woods College, “Definitely the atmosphere, the girls there that I toured with. Coach Walker is definitely a coach that you can tell that he wants you to be better as a player, he wants you to get better as a person. It definitely just felt like home, it felt like I will be very comfortable there for the next four years of my life.”

 

Rollings discussed her personal goals she wants to accomplish in her senior season and the team’s goals this upcoming 2024 softball season, “Yes. Definitely, obviously the main one make it back to state and obviously finish farther than we did the past (few) years. A personal goal is obviously just to better myself, better my performance, better my understanding of the game as I go into the next level of college ball. As a team, we have a few new players coming in since we lost some core players and definitely just getting to know the younger girls, getting to know everybody’s like talents and ability to be able to help them especially since I am a senior this year. I just want those younger girls to be able to look up to me as a leader and to be able to ask me questions and feel comfortable to talk to me and help them better their game also while I’m also trying to still better my game.”

 

In her junior year, Alyse had 47 hits, 44 runs scored, 23 RBI’s, 6 doubles, 3 triples, 16 stolen bases, and a batting average of .379.