Hanna Bettag, nursing sophomore, has been surrounded by the world of softball since she was a small girl.
“I’ve been playing softball since I was 5,” Bettag said.
She played little league and travel ball.
She said softball has always been in her family.
“My dad coached my little league teams and travel teams,” she said. “My mom and my dad play slow-pitch softball, so softball has always been a family thing.”
Bettag played softball all four years at Heritage Hills High School in Santa Claus, Ind.
She said she looked at several universities to play college softball, such as IU Southeast, IUPUI and the University of Indianapolis, but she chose IU Southeast because of its size.
“I’m a small town girl,” Bettag said. “Here is what I relate to what a small town is.”
Bettag is on her second year as the first baseman and catcher and said she is not always a starter.
Being a starter often times is based on performance in previous games, and it depends on the competition.
“This has been one of the best years because everyone plays in every game,” Bettag said.
Bettag said the work ethic is different in high school, with practice being more like a social hour.
In college, the team practices two to three hours every day.
Bettag said she has a lot of hopes for the season and thinks the team can be a .500 team, which is where the team is even on wins and losses.
“We’ve done a lot of work, and it’s paid off,” Bettag said, “but we still need to work every day to achieve our goals.”
Bettag said she wants the team to win the conference and travel to the national tournament.
“I want us to go and make a stand,” she said. “Last year we went, and I don’t think we won any games. I want us to go and say ‘hey, this is IU Southeast, and we came here to play.’”
Bettag said, after college, she plans to being her nursing career doing life flight.
Life flight is when medical professionals provide life-saving transport to critically injured or ill patients from the scene of an emergency or from one hospital to another.
“Eventually, I would like to get a master’s or become a nurse practitioner and open up my own clinic back home,” Bettag said.
By AMANDA
CHIAMULERA
Staff
alchiamu@umail.iu.edu