Blewitt Discovers Alabama While Visiting Brother
2/6/2007 12:00:00 AM | Softball
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. ?? Alex Blewitt, a freshman third baseman on the Crimson Tide softball team, found the place she wanted to go to school while visiting her brother in Tuscaloosa.
Her older brother, Frank, now a graduate student in the Sports Management program at the University of Alabama, chose to come to school at UA when their family was living in Charlotte, N.C. Alex says he was looking at five schools but after visiting the campus he knew he wanted to come here because he liked football and the tradition of the school.
While Alex was in high school, the family was living in Archbald, Pa. She started to look at different schools and coming to visit her brother in Tuscaloosa definitely influenced her decision. At the time, Frank was a friend of one of the managers on the Tide's softball team, Travis Williams, so he would occasionally go to watch and when Alex was in town Frank would take her to the games.
Prior to her senior year of high school, Alex attended one of the Tide's summer camps and met head coach Patrick Murphy for the first time. Her performance also caught the eye of Murphy and a former Tide All-American.
"Her coach at camp was Ginger (Jones) Powers, a former player of ours," said Murphy. "She said so many good things about her. She said her arm was great and she had a lot of pop in her bat."
During the fall after camp, she came with her family and they went to an Alabama football game. The softball team was on the quad signing autographs and Alex went through the line and talked to all of the players. It wasn't too long after that when her defining moment would come, as Frank's friend Travis kept reminding the coaches about Alex. They would soon give her a chance.
"As the recruiting process went along, the only time we could go see her was in California in late October," said Murphy. "It was basically her complete tryout to come and I think she knew that. I knew that because if she performed well we were probably going to offer her a scholarship. There was a ton of pressure on her. In her first at bat she hit a double, her second she hit a home run and then a triple. I met with her and her father (Ken Blewitt) afterwards and offered her a scholarship. She definitely performed when she needed to and under a lot of pressure."
It didn't take long for Alex to say yes to the scholarship offer, especially since her brother was going to school at UA and she had enjoyed her trips to visit him.
"When I came to visit him at UA he took me to games and it helped me a lot to figure out where I wanted to go to school," said Alex. "I never did an official visit here but I had been here several times and met the coaches. I probably should have taken a visit to get to know some of the players a little better. Now that I am here and show recruits around a little bit, it is something that I think I would have liked to have done."
Although she did take a look at going to school somewhere else, she was always pretty set on coming to join her brother in Tuscaloosa.
"I wrote to South Florida, but basically I was going to come here anyway, even if I didn't get to play softball," said Alex. "I put all of my focus on Alabama and hoped it would work out."
Now that Alex is here she looks back and thinks about how her brother and her teammates made the adjustment to college easier for her.
"It has been good," said Alex. "Having my brother here has helped a lot and the older girls have also helped a lot. When you first get here you are on your own so Frank showed me around and told me how to get to the buildings where my classes were that first week. Whatever I asked him about he told me. I knew my away around a little bit from visiting him and staying in hotels down on McFarland Ave., so I knew how to get from there to campus. It was mainly questions on how to get to class and the easiest way to get from my dorm to the softball field.
"Also, the players helped a lot. As soon as I went to that first meeting and got all of the other players phone numbers, you can ask them anything and they helped. Allison Moore especially helped, so I am really close to her and she helped me tons with anything."
Alex and her brother spent more time with each other in the fall and still hang out together when they get a chance, but now that the season is close to starting it has been harder to find the time. Her brother works during the morning when she has class and is off while she is at practice in the afternoon. Frank has class at night when Alex has free time so it has been hard this semester for them to find the time when they are both free.
With both Alex and her brother going to the University of Alabama, it has also made things easier on her parents. With both being at the same place they only have to make one trip to see them instead of two. The two of them can also fly home together on the same flight.
"They love it," said Alex. "It means less trips and it is a lot easier for them. We fly home together and it is just more convenient for everyone."
Blewitt's parents still live in Pennsylvania in an area about two hours North of Philadelphia and one hour west of the state border with New York. Her mother, Candice, runs a transportation department for Alex's old school district. Her father is the Vice President of a non-profit camp set up as a place to get away for parents and kids whose families are in the military. The camp was started by her uncle.
Alex was born in Scranton. When she was four years old her family moved to North Carolina and then four years later they went back to Pennsylvania. When she was 12 years old they moved to Florida and made one more stop in North Carolina before moving back to Pennsylvania where they are today. Alex has enjoyed parts of every place she has lived in, but feels that she liked Pennsylvania the best because most of her family lives there and her hometown is a small town where everyone knows everyone else.
No matter where she lived, Alex always had the influence of her father on her softball career. Although she didn't start playing softball until she was 12 years old, her father had also coached baseball and was a former player himself. He played in college at Eastern Kentucky and was in the minor leagues with the Chicago Cubs for two years before giving it up to raise a family.
"My dad is a big baseball guy so he basically taught me everything," said Alex. "He played and playing for him was hard but it was fun because he was my dad. He didn't treat me like I was his daughter. He treated me like just another player on the field. In a way I think he was harder on me, but I look at it as a good thing now and it was worth it."
The lessons learned from her father led her to an impressive performance in front of the watchful eyes of Alabama softball head coach Patrick Murphy. Now she is now just a couple of days away from beginning her collegiate career at the Capstone as the Crimson Tide begins its season Friday at the Century-Tel Softball Classic in San Marcos, Texas.
