The walkup song is an iconic staple when watching baseball or softball games. Many young ball players dream of the day when it’s their turn to have their name called over the loudspeaker, followed by their favorite song playing as they step into the batters’ box for their at bat. 

For baseball and softball players at Seattle University, that dream becomes a reality. Every home game, each individual player from the Seattle U baseball and softball teams gets to choose a song to walk out to before their plate appearances. For some, these songs have deep connections to their family or religion, but for others, their song is simply a fun tune that gets the fans’ heads bopping.  

I had the opportunity to talk to athletes from both programs about what their walkup songs meant to them. Here’s what they had to say:  

DD: What are your walkup songs?  

Jake Wagoner, sophomore catcher: “We had the choice to do three this year. I did ‘Them Bones’ by Alice in Chains, kind of a rock song, so definitely gets me hyped up before the AB. My second is by Fleetwood Mac, it’s just kind of a thing for my grandparents because I grew up with them and it was just kind of a recognition for them. The last one is ‘God Is’ by Kanye West because I would say that I’m very religious and I just wanted to do that one for Sunday.”  

Jared Stevenson, junior outfielder: “My first walkup song is ‘9’ by Drake, Drake being my favorite musical artist and me wearing number nine this year, I felt that was kind of a slam dunk. Another one by Drake called ‘Virginia Beach.’ This is one that I did last year at my previous school, I had a lot of success under it so I just decided to run it back. And then my third is ‘Follow God’ by Kanye, pretty similar to why Jake chose ‘God Is.’ I like to consider myself a man of faith, coming from a Christian background, so I felt that would be a cool one to put there.”  

Reese Harmon, junior infielder: “Mine’s ‘My Love’ by Justin Timberlake. I just thought it was kind of fire and one of my buddies from home did it too, so we did the same one.”  

Avari Morris, sophomore pitcher: “My walkup song is ‘Enter Sandman’ by Metallica. It was the walkout song of this very famous closer for the New York Yankees, Mariano Rivera. Not that I’m a Yankees fan, but I think that it’s the most badass walkout song that there is, so I just wanted to kind of encapsulate what Mariano Rivera did.”  

Mikee Morris, sophomore infielder: “My walkup song is ‘Modern Jam’ by Travis Scott. My brother introduced the song to me and I’ve never been that big of a Travis Scott fan but he showed me that song and I was like, ‘wait this is kind of cool,’ and then I was thinking about finding my walkup song and I was listening to it and I was like, yeah, then I had it for my walkup song last year and then I just decided to take it into this year.”   

The athletes from both teams gave a wide variety of songs from multiple different genres, ranging from rock and pop, all the way to rap. Although multiple players had deeper explanations about why they chose their walkup songs, some athletes had less of a connection with their songs and just chose a song that they thought sounded good, as we saw with Harmon and M. Morris. Although often seen as a very minor part of softball and baseball games, a player’s walkup song allows them to express themselves and gives a glimpse into their personality. 

Both teams are at home this week versus conference opponents, with baseball taking on Abilene Christian for a three-game series and softball facing off against Utah Valley, with both series beginning on April 25.