Thorndale High School junior Emilee Baker hadn’t always planned on being a Division I softball player before she verbally committed to Texas State University earlier this school year.
Before moving to Texas during fifth grade, she was an aspiring gymnast in her home state of Arkansas.
“Gymnastics is something where you have to take time earning trust and I knew doing it without my coach from Arkansas was not going to (be the same),” she said. “So when we moved to Georgetown, we actually got there the day of recreational league softball tryouts and it was mainly for my sister Bailee, she was all about softball. I just tried out because I needed something to do and to be a part of something during the move.”
Before long, Baker blossomed on the softball field and by seventh grade, she started playing for the Texas Blaze, an elite softball program with teams in all four major Texas metropolitan areas. By that time, she had already made up her mind that she wanted to play the sport after high school.
“I knew that I wanted to play college softball,” she said. “My parents were like ‘well you’re going to have work at it every day’.”
Going into high school, Baker started for the Lady Dogs in left field and was the lead-off batter her freshman year. In that season, she was a big part of a team that made it all the way to the 2019 Class 2A state championship game. She was named Offensive MVP at the state tournament and received all-state honors, in big part due to her three hits that knocked in four of Thorndale’s 10 runs in their state semifinal victory against Windthorst. During that season, she had a batting average of .522 and an on-base percentage of .570 with 32 stolen bases and 55 runs scored in 27 games. In the post-season, she batted .644 and had 10 stolen bases in 12 games.
Although her sophomore season was cut short due to COVID-19, Baker had a batting average over .500 with 20 stolen bases and 12 RBI’s in just 16 games. Last fall, she was allowed to communicate with college coaches and received interest from many programs.
“Sam Houston, Texas State, A&M-Corpus Christi, Stephen F. Austin, Cornell and Incarnate Word all reached out,” she said. “But when Texas State offered, it was hard to pass up.”
Baker says that verbally committing with half of her high school softball career left to play gives her some sense of comfort.
“I think the biggest thing, because I play select softball outside of school, is having that stress off of me in select gives me more to work towards for my school and it’s basically a big relief,” she said. “Like I know that somebody’s watching me, but there’s no longer the pressure of having something I’m still trying to get.”
Baker and the Lady Dogs start their season this weekend in La Grange.
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