BEAUMONT, Texas - When Maddy Myers arrived at Lamar University in the fall of 2015, she didn't have a grand plan for her collegiate softball career. She just wanted a chance to keep playing the sport which had captured her heart at eight years old.
It seemed nearly impossible with only one or two available spots open on a junior- and senior-laden team.
But nothing could deter Myers.
After snagging a roster spot, she spent hours in the batting cage and working on fielding skills to prove she belonged. It worked. The freshman appeared in 45 games with 39 starts across infield positions and at the designated player position.
Myers stayed in the rotation as a utility player the next two seasons, but still did not have the one thing many high school and collegiate athletes dream of – an athletic scholarship.
When the 2018 season ended, Myers landed an internship with Boeing and NASA. The fall internship would require two trips to Houston per week and summer classes to free up enough space in her fall schedule to accommodate these trips.
The internship even made Myers wonder how softball would fit into the schedule. But any decision regarding softball had to wait until Lamar hired a new coaching staff. Myers didn't want anything to stop her from wearing Lamar Cardinal red one last season, so she hoped for the best.
And then, in the middle of summer, Myers got the call – she was officially a scholarship student-athlete.
"It kind of blew my mind," Myers, who even eight months later finds herself at a loss for words, said. "Because all the hard work that I had put in, all the years I'd given to the sport - it was kind of jaw-dropping to finally see it all be recognized and everything finally paid off. All my hard work kind of built up to that moment."
But Myers had never met the person who offered the scholarship.
On June 20, Lamar hired Amy Hooks to take over the softball program. Hooks inherited a team which ended the 2018 season with a .500 record and ended up going through several roster changes before fall 2019.
As Hooks sorted through the roster, some unused money showed up in the scholarship budget. She knew exactly what to do with it.
"You know what you're going to get every day from [Maddy]," Hooks said. "She's going to work hard. She has a tremendous work ethic, and she puts in extra work on top of it. Plus, she is a stellar student. I was in a position where I had some money left over where I could do that. I wanted to show her I appreciate that."
A few weeks later, Myers met Hooks for the first time in an unusual fashion.
Myers had yet to tell coach Hooks about the opportunity with NASA and Boeing. The thought of asking a new coach if she could take an internship an hour-and-a-half away and still be a part of the program felt like too much.
Myers walked by the softball field and into the building across the driveway fighting back tears.
By the time she walked through the door and made the left-hand turn into the tiny lobby outside coach Hooks' office, the emotions took over.
"I felt bad because I was bawling my eyes out," Myers said. "I told her the situation. I told her I love this team. I love being part of you guys. I want to do something great, but I also have this amazing opportunity lined up. I didn't think there was any way I could do both."
Coach Hooks immediately understood and worked with Myers to make combining softball and the internship a reality.
This meant Myers' schedule became busier than ever. She spent Fridays in Houston and the rest of the week either in class, in the batting cages, in the weight room, eating, studying or sleeping.
As Myers quietly took care of the new responsibilities, Elizabeth Castillo did not see a change in her best friend's approach to school or athletics. Myers kept striving for perfection in everything.
"When we were on the football field conditioning, she was still trying to beat me every time," Castillo, a junior infielder/outfielder, said. "No matter how tired she was, no matter what she had been doing or what was going on with her. She was still competing and still trying to elevate her game as much as she could in every way possible."
This successful balancing act fit right into coach Hooks' initial impression of Myers too.
"Not every kid would get that same answer, but I knew that Maddy was going to put in the extra work," Hooks said. "You're going to get 100 percent of her percentage every day, whatever that is. If she has 80, she's going to give you 100 percent of her 80. I knew this wasn't too much for her and, being a senior, you don't want to take those opportunities away."
Myers took full advantage of the internship and, somehow, found a way to add one more task to an already crammed schedule.
Throughout the fall, Myers attended on-campus meet-and-greets with different companies from Beaumont and Houston, including Exxon Mobil.
Students who met certain GPA standards were encouraged to send in their resumes and apply for jobs with the companies. Myers received the invitation and immediately "hounded" Lamar's Center for Career and Professional Development for resume reviews and other job search tips.
Myers applied for a position with Exxon Mobil and received a follow-up call requesting an interview. She went back to the career center for mock interviews and more guidance on the job search process.
Even after all the preparation, Myers said she was still nervous, thinking the company probably wanted someone with more experience. After all, it was Exxon Mobil.
The perceived lack of experience did not hurt Myers. A month after the initial interview, Myers received another coveted phone call.
She got the job in Spring, Texas.
"My jaw just dropped," Myers said. "'Are you serious? I got it?'"
The management information systems major saw her hard work pay off again when the internship ended in December. NASA and Boeing offered an extension through spring 2019, but the upcoming softball season forced Myers to turn it down.
Still, Myers had accomplished enough to leave her mark on the softball program.
"She's somebody we put on a pedestal and show them - not necessarily athletic-wise - it's look what she did with her time here," Hooks said. "And she's able to have success on the field as well."
Myers appeared in 106 of 121 games the last two seasons and drove in a career-high 17 runs in 2018 and finished third on the team in walks. So far during the spring 2019 season, she has played in 15 of 22 games with starts in left field and as the designated player.
Moving in and out of the lineup does not faze Myers. She still spends hours fielding balls and refining her swing to become the best softball player possible, all while putting the team first.
"Her character and her determination to be what the team needs in that moment doesn't go unnoticed and I think a lot of kids look up to her," Hooks said. "She's not a real vocal leader. She's more of a watch-me-and-follow-me kind of person. She probably doesn't even realize how many people look to her."
Including her best friend and former roommate.
"Maddy's honestly one of my biggest role models," Castillo said. "I told her that the other day actually. Anything life has to throw at her, anything we've gone through down here together, she's kind of progressed from it and elevated everything."
Just over two months remain in Myers' collegiate softball career. Myers wants to slow everything down and really focus on spending more time with friends before everyone goes different directions.
Graduation day will come fast, but something just as meaningful needs Myers' attention first.
Lamar starts Southland Conference play at the LU Softball Complex on March 8 against Abilene Christian University. The former walk-on is ready to do anything she can to help the Cardinals make this a very special season and add one more accomplishment to her resume.
"I'm excited for all of us to mesh together as a unit and shock the world," Myers said. "We can do it. We have the talent; we have the coaches. We have everything there."
With Myers leading, the sky is the limit for the softball program - both on and off the field.
