Mara Wright, a Wagner Community School sophomore, attended a Junior Day National Softball Showcase on August 9th -11th in College Park, MD. Mara is the daughter of Calvin Sr. and Mona Wright. Mara began playing softball when she was 10 years old and has enjoyed the game ever since. It is the fiercely competitive environment that drives Mara to want to constantly play softball. She has played on the WCS varsity softball team since the team formed in spring of 2023. The position that she plays on the school’s softball team is pitcher.

Pitching was not always Mara’s role in softball. Before becoming a pitcher, she was actually the catcher and 2nd baseman. During covid when the season was canceled, Mara taught herself how to pitch. She would go outside every day and work on building her skills as a pitcher. When asked who or what inspired her to want to be a pitcher, she said that the Oklahoma Sooners pitcher inspired her the most. Mara’s favorite pitch is a fastball. Mara feels that her ability to communicate with her team and be able to push herself to become better are her greatest strengths. Being able to push herself was a much-needed skill as Mara wanted to continue to play softball after the school softball season ended. Since Wagner did not have a team for summer softball in Mara’s age group, she began seeking out other teams to play for. This past summer, she played for the Mount Vernon/ Mitchell Venom Green.

It is a desire of Mara’s to play softball year-round. She stays motivated and has continued to hone her skills by doing her own personal workouts, attending camps, attending the open workshops at USD on Monday nights, and attending a six-week softball training camp at Mount Marty.

Mara has a couple of things that she would like to work on in her game which are her step (developing a longer stride) and becoming more verbal when out on the field. She hopes to one day play college ball, but is not sure what where she would like to play yet.

In order to attend the National Softball Showcase, Mara had to be invited and in order to be invited she had to first attend a College Prospect Camp in St. Paul, MN. During the two-day event, in addition to playing softball games and drills, participants had the opportunity to be screened and viewed by attending college coaches. There were three drills for the pitchers including running from first base to home plate, pitching velocity, and over-hand throws that the coaches evaluated.

Colleges that featured their coaching staff at the event were Colgate University, Georgian Court University, Manhattan College, Marymount University, Salisbury University, St. John’s University, Stockton University, University of Maryland, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, University of North Carolina Wilmington, University of North Florida, The University of Virginia, and Virginia Wesleyan University. Over 150 girls from 34 states attended the showcase and were split into eight teams including Navy, Black, Columbia Blue, Green, Orange, Purple, White, and Cardinal, with each team playing two games. Mara was on team Cardinal and they ended with a record of 1-1.

What Mara took away from the showcase were tips from the pitching coaches of Salisbury University and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Mara will be working hard to develop faster speed and velocity when pitching as well as getting her arm around faster when she is pitching. She also took a bigger networking system home with her including new coaches as well as peers. Softball has been an amazing outlet for Mara, on and off the field, and has boosted her self-esteem. If given the chance, Mara would really enjoy attending another showcase as she enjoys working with different coaches and receiving tips and ideas on what she needs to work on.