Shauna Gramig, catcher for the IU Southeast softball team, has had a passion for softball from a young age.

“It all began in the first grade when my teacher sent a permission slip home to students,” she said. “It was a sign-up for the baseball team, and I played two years in a row. That is when I knew what I wanted to do.”

Gramig said that her father has had the most influence on her decision to play softball. Being a military man, he valued the importance of teamwork and stressed the importance to Gramig.

Gramig said her father was her coach from day one and he impacted the decisions she would come to make with regards to her sports career.

She said her primary goal was to do the things that her father enjoyed and she wanted to make him proud.

Due to her father’s military status, Gramig and her family moved quite a bit, but she said while it may have been tiresome, all the experiences truly helped her in her softball career.

Gramig was born in Tampa and raised in Clearwater, Fla., where she attended kindergarten. She then spent her first through fourth grade years of school in Hawaii and fifth grade in Georgia. She said the places she has lived helped her find her love for softball.

“Living in the warmer climates definitely benefitted my playing softball,” Gramig said. “Especially in Georgia, softball is a very big sport. I’m the player I am today because of where I have been.”

The first three years of Gramig’s college career she played softball for the Georgetown Tigers of Kentucky, where she majored in exercise science before coming to IU Southeast.

“Todd Buckingham, the former coach here at IUS, began recruiting me in high school,” Gramig said. “I was already familiar with the program and decided to play my final year here.”

Not only does she love playing the sport, Gramig also follows the NCAA Women’s College World Series when it is on television each year.

She said she dreams of winning a championship and said she hopes to one day be the coach of her own Division I softball team.

Joe Witten, IUS softball head coach, said he believes in her choice of aspirations and provides his own words of encouragement.

“Her desire to coach, I think, has a lot to do with her upbringing and her parents’ support,” Witten said. “Her vast amount of softball knowledge and skill is evident, as well as her ability to play many positions.”

Because of her connections acquired from her time at softball camps and her attendance of various schools, Gramig said she believes her ties to some of the country’s top schools will prove useful in finding a coaching position.

One camp in particular, the Blue Chip Fastpitch Camp located in Brandenburg, Ky., is an elite skills camp where players and Division I coaches attend.

Gramig said she has participated in their camp for many years and has gotten to know many coaches.

“My hitting coach is the assistant coach at Florida State,” she said. “He was eventually going to try and get me on down there.”

In addition to her relationship with former IU Southeast coach Todd Buckingham, she said her father was an umpire for local fast-pitch leagues and was familiar with some of the coaches in this area, which made the transfer to IU Southeast easier.

“I heard they needed a catcher from Coach Witten so I gathered my things and started the process,” Gramig said. “Hopefully my final year of softball will be a good one.”

The school was in-division and when she transferred she did not have to sit out a year. Coach Witten said he believes Gramig made the correct decision to choose IU Southeast for her final year.

“Shauna adds a lot of energy,” Witten said. “I told her she could come play just about any position for us, except probably pitcher. She is very loud, vocal and quick to correct others. In softball there will always be mistakes made, but it is how quickly those mistakes are corrected that makes a team better. She is wonderful to be around, especially when she’s smiling.”

Gramig is most comfortable at the catcher position, but said she knows how to play where her coach needs her.

As for her favorite spot in the lineup, Gramig said she prefers to hit in either the three or six spot because it enables her to have the most impact on the ball game.

By BRETT HANCOCK

Staff

brjhanco@ius.edu