Time out Session: Haddock Looks to Soar With Redhawks
Photo Courtesy of Bailey Haddock
Bailey Haddock (right), a first-year on Seattle U’s softball team, looks forward to working with her teammates for a spot in the top 25 teams.
The first tournament of 2020 for the Seattle University Women’s Softball team is fast approaching, and with it comes a plethora of new faces.During 2019, the Redhawks had a particularly strong season, advancing to the NCAA tournament and Regionals. This year, they are trying to match that accomplishment and more for the start of a new decade.
Bailey Haddock, from Olympia, Washington, is excited to begin her first collegiate season as a Redhawk. As a first-year, Haddock is looking forward to growing with the team and improving with them while also individually strengthening her skills.
EJ: What are you most looking forward to in this upcoming season?
BH: Definitely getting to travel with all of the girls. We leave in two weeks for our first tournament, and it’s getting a lot more real—I’m just really excited to go to California and Hawaii.
EJ: What is your favorite part about being on the softball team at Seattle U?
BH: How much they make it a family. I walked in on the first day and immediately felt welcomed. If you’re going through a breakup, if you just had a bad day, they pick you up. If you’re only giving eighty that day, they’ll give you that extra twenty— just the support system.
EJ: What do you enjoy most about your team?
BH: Working out with the team. We condition and lift weights together and then afterwards, we can just all go get the greasiest burgers and the best mac and cheese ever and not feel bad about it.
EJ: What are some of your personal goals this season?
BH: I want to have more confidence on the field, be louder and just be a great teammate.
EJ: Are there any goals the team has discussed together for this season?
BH: This season, we’re trying to be a top 25 team again. We made it to the NCAA tournament last year which was unheard of—Seattle U has never done that before and so we’ve worked so hard…our goal is to make it there again. And not even just make it there, but make it even further.
EJ: Do you have any pre-game rituals?
BH: We hacky sack before every single game. Right after we hit, there’s some dead time before we stretch. We also love to eat those mini bagels with strawberry cream cheese—it’s like a good luck snack.
EJ: What made you want to play softball at Seattle U?
BH: Seeing a coach like Hirai, has so much experience at Virginia, Oregon and the University of Washington. He’d been an amazing coach—but then he came into a head coach role here three, four years ago, and completely turned it around. A team that never won, a team that wasn’t serious about anything, he turned it around into a championship team. The environment and the intensity of it all drew me to it—if I’m going to be somewhere for seven hours, I need to really like it. He just makes it go, go, go all the time.
Haddock is looking forward to her first season as a Redhawk, and the softball team is optimistic as they head into a new season.
Emma may be reached at [email protected]