Kelsey Martlage signs to play softball at Danville Area Community College
By FRED KRONER
Life lessons Kelsey Martlage has learned since playing softball:
— Don’t burn any bridges;
— Take time to think out decisions and don’t make them prematurely.
The St. Joseph-Ogden High School senior signed a letter of intent on Friday (Feb. 11) to continue her career at Danville Area Community College.
Things looked a lot different to Martlage when she started at SJ-O as a freshman in the fall of 2018.
“If I would’ve asked myself my freshman year of high school at the first open gym for softball if I wanted to play college softball, it would’ve been a definite no,” Martlage said.
In junior high, softball is a fall sport. Martlage ran cross-country instead. But she had extensive experience on the diamond, playing on an assortment of travel teams since she was 8 years old.
“I just saw softball as like another sport in my life,” Martlage said.
Her freshman year with the Spartans, Martlage had a varsity uniform in softball, but the majority of her time on the field was as a runner.
Her sophomore season of softball didn’t happen at all. COVID-19 saw to that.
Martlage’s interest in the game, however, was strong enough that she traveled to Tilton each Wednesday to workout at T3 with instructors Matt and Kelley Cervantes, who also coach the Danville Area Community College softball team.
“One of the Wednesdays, I brought my dad with me so we could ask the coaches about what we needed to do to reach out to college coaches and make my name known,” she said.
Martlage learned on the spot about two coaches who were interested in recruiting her: The Cervantes.
The middle infielder scheduled her first official campus visit to DACC while continuing to gather information on other universities.
“Although I loved the DACC campus and the coaches, I always saw DACC as my backup plan for if I got no other scholarships,” Martlage said.
However, she didn’t burn any bridges or decline the scholarship offer as she continued her search.
She checked out her mom’s collegiate alma mater (Indiana State) and also looked into Lourdes University (in Sylvania, Ohio), McKendree University (in Lebanon, Ill.) and Southern Illinois-Edwardsville.
Martlage’s final visit was to McKendree and all of her impressions were favorable.
“I really loved this one and thought it would be the one,” she said, “but I couldn’t get myself to say no to DACC because I felt like that’s where I was meant to play.
“After all of these college visits I decided DACC was the best fit for me for many reasons.”
Sparked perhaps by a breakout junior season at SJ-O where she started for the 27-8 Spartans, Martlage had expanded her softball dreams.
“I knew that if I went to a two-year school, then I could transfer and play at a bigger school,” she said. “I also felt like if I went to a four-year school now, then I would settle with it there for four years and not be able to reach my dreams of playing at a bigger school, like I could after DACC.
“That is the biggest advantage. I knew that if I was able to have a super good two years at DACC, then I could go play at a Big Ten school.”
The distance between St. Joseph and Danville was also a factor in Martlage’s college choice.
“Not going too far from home is such a great feeling,” she said. “I feel as though I am far enough away so I can still be living on my own and enjoying the college experience, but I am also close enough to where I can come home whenever I want.
“I think it would be hard to move super far away and play a sport in college, at least for me, because I wouldn’t have my friends and family to talk to after super good or even bad games. It reduces the stress of college and playing sports knowing that I can easily make a 20-25-minute drive home, if I need to.”
For now, Martlage will focus on her senior season with SJ-O – which is scheduled to start on March 19 at a round-robin tournament at Casey – but when it is time to look beyond high school, she will be prepared.
“I can see myself fitting in great with my future team for next year,” Martlage said. “I went to Danville one day to do a practice with the team and get to know everyone and although it was a conditioning practice, everyone was super nice and they never let anyone struggle alone during the conditioning, they were always cheering for their team.
“I think that’s a key factor because no one wants a team where some people won’t talk to others or anything like that. Sometimes I would see them when I was doing hitting lessons and they would always talk to me and say how they can’t wait to play with me next year. I think I will fit in super good with this team and I can’t wait.”
Besides the Cervantes’ and her travel coaches, the staff at SJ-O has been instrumental in her development.
“The coaches at St. Joseph-Ogden have for sure helped me improve,” Martlage said. “One of the biggest things they have taught me even in just the past few months is how to be a leader.
“We have many underclassmen this year who are nervous. Being a senior, the captain and I know to go up and make them more comfortable and not nervous to be there.
“I think that is a huge thing I have learned from St. Joseph softball because you don’t get to be a captain on every single team, but you can be a leader on every team no matter what age or year you are.”
Martlage plans on majoring in sports medicine or a related field.
“I love sports and everything that goes with it, so I think having a job where I can be dealing with sports everyday would be so much fun.
“I have been looking into different careers based off sports medicine. I could see myself studying different sports and figuring out how to prevent and heal injuries, or going to sporting events in a school and being an athletic director.”
While in high school, or junior high, Martlage has participated in cross-country, volleyball, track and field and tennis as well as softball.
“I am kind of glad I didn’t always know I wanted to pursue softball because then I wouldn’t have tried out all the different sports that I got to try out,” she said.
Through her life lessons, Martlage is well-positioned to offer advice to others.
“I just want to say to all the young athletes or students, never give up on your dreams,” she said. “I know that is super cliche and you hear it from everyone, but it’s true.
“If you want something for yourself in your future – whether it’s tomorrow or 10 years – go chase it and don’t stop. If you put the work in, anything can happen.”
Those words of wisdom are from someone who as recently as four years ago wouldn’t have predicted a collegiate future as a softball player, which is now her reality.
