Sam McQueen signs her letter of intent at Ewing High School on Nov. 18, 2013.
Ewing High School senior Sam McQueen has always known that she wanted to play softball at the collegiate level. She has also always known that in order to get there, she had to be proactive.
The third baseman recently signed her letter of intent with UMass Lowell after verbally committing over the summer, capping off years of hitting lessons, exposure tournaments and contacting coaches. For McQueen and her parents, Pat and Glenn, stagnancy was not an option.
“Softball has been our life,” Pat said. “You are traveling. She plays for the school. She has games constantly up until May and then travel starts up to August. It’s nonstop, every weekend.”
Starting last summer, they attended recruitment seminars and filmed a skill video. They mailed packets including a letter from McQueen, a summer schedule, transcripts and a player profile to more than 100 schools. They even printed up postcards with McQueen’s information and a link to her skill video to give to college coaches at tournaments.
“We sat down, and we worked very hard,” Glenn said. “We did a lot of things and worked very hard in that respect. Some people tend to think that just because you’re good, you’re going to magically get found. That’s not always the case. You have to work. We put in a lot of effort, and it was just a very exciting time for us to go up to Massachusetts and see the coach talk to her and bond with her and at the end, offer her a scholarship to play softball at the Division 1 level.”
McQueen first met Sean Cotter, the UML softball team’s head coach, at a tournament at Armstrong Field earlier this year. The girls were split into teams and rotated between coaches—one of whom was Cotter. McQueen had a solid outing under Cotter’s direction and ended up talking to him at the end of the day.
“He said he was going to send me an email talking about his camp,” she said. “We decided to go.”
She and Glenn took the trip to UML during the summer, where she played in a tournament similar to the one at Armstrong. McQueen plans on majoring in physical therapy, so Cotter also set her up with members of that department’s staff.
“After the whole camp, we met with him, and that’s when he was like, ‘Here’s the situation. I really like you as a player. This is what I’m going to offer you,’” she said. “So we said, ‘Okay, let’s take a five-hour drive home now and go to talk to mom about it.’”
Other schools like the University of Rhode Island, Arcadia University, Clarkson University, Rochester University and Rider University expressed interest, but UML, from the softball program to McQueen’s academic interests, was a “perfect fit,” she said.
“When he asked us to come sit in his office, I was nervous,” McQueen said. “This is the real deal now. In that moment, everything I’ve worked for my whole entire life has now paid off. it’s been such a relief off of my shoulders. I verbally committed at the end of August. All throughout fall, I didn’t have the worry of sending out letters to the coaches and stuff like that.”
Three days after her visit, McQueen called Cotter and gave him the good news.
“We love Sam’s enthusiasm for the game,” Cotter said. “We think she was a good swing with a big upside. Her versatility is extremely valued in our system. We are very happy she is part of our first division class.”
McQueen said she has already developed a bond with Cotter that has only grown since their first meeting. She signed up for an exposure tournament before visiting UML, but by the time it rolled around, she had already committed. Instead of ditching the tournament altogether, she spent it with Cotter, who was there to observe and coach.
“I actually stayed with Coach Cotter all day long and coached with him,” she said. “It was one of the coolest experiences ever because I felt like an actual coach. People were asking me if I was the new assistant at UMass. I got to meet a lot of new girls that way. I got to know Coach Cotter on a more personal level and see his strategies in working with the players in a game situation. That was cool.”
McQueen’s hitting coach and former Rider standout Courtney Weed has been working with her since she was 12. After years of watching McQueen learning to perfect every aspect of her craft, Weed said, McQueen “definitely deserves a pat on the back.”
“She’s always been so open-minded to learning,” Weed said. “She’s worked so hard. I’ve never felt so proud. She’s worked toward this for a long time. Her family is so wonderful and dedicated. Seeing her accomplish her life goal is definitely one of my proudest moments as a coach and instructor.”
Naturally, McQueen is ready for the new challenge come 2014.
“I keep imagining myself walking into the first day of practice like, this is my life now for the next four years,” she said. “There are who my teammates are going to be for the next four years. I am nervous a little bit, but I think it’s more excited nerves than anything. I’m excited to get this new experience that not many people get to experience. To be able to have this opportunity is extremely exciting.”
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