Sydney Littlejohn: Dreaming of the Big Stage in Small-Town Texas
2/25/2017 12:32:00 PM | Softball
Alabama softball pitcher Sydney Littlejohn will be celebrating her senior day Saturday at Rhoads Stadium
Growing up in a small town, Sydney Littlejohn always wanted to experience something new. From a young age, her parents got her involved in sports for something to do with her friends.
"I remember that I was terrible at softball," Littlejohn said. "I had terrible hand-eye coordination. Just terrible overall coordination. I was very unathletic."
The graduate student from Rusk, Texas earned her degree of exercise science in May 2016. She is currently pursuing a masters in human performance with a sports management track. Her love of the game was always strong, as she tried various positions on the field growing up.
In particular, her love for softball grew during her 10U and 12U seasons. Her coach at the time kept working with her to find the position that she was the most comfortable with.
"I was a benchwarmer, and that's OK," Littlejohn said. "Once I started pitching, everything started to come around. He told me that I was going to be tall and I have really big hands, so why not try pitching?"
Littlejohn took his advice and got to work pitching. She drew inspiration from national team member and former University of Arizona pitcher Jennie Finch. Littlejohn would watch Finch play on TV and even attended a couple of her camps. From there, her love for the game continued to grow even stronger.
"Pitching helped me with my hand-eye coordination," Littlejohn said. "It was one of those things where nobody in my town was doing it. I couldn't play any other position. I felt like it was my chance to get to play. Once I started getting it, I felt like I was getting better at doing it."
Littlejohn loves where she's from. However, she knew there was more to offer outside of her little town with only one stoplight. She wanted to do something no one has ever done before. She wanted to challenge herself.
She wanted to play collegiately.
"When it comes to a big, power five school, I was the first [from my town] to do that," Littlejohn said.
Signing at the University of Alabama was a dream come true for Littlejohn. She felt at home with the team and knew that she had made the right decision to go on and keep playing.
Off the field, Littlejohn loves to be around people and build a genuine relationship with others. She finds enjoyment with spending quality time with people. Learning more about people is fun for her. One of the ways that she was able to interact with others was through being the team mascot at Rusk High School.
"I was a seven foot tall eagle because, obviously I'm already very tall," Littlejohn said. "Where I looked out of the costume was in the neck of the eagle and went about a foot above my head. I scared a lot of people, but it was fun. When the little kids wanted to come up to me, they would realize how big I was and turn around."
Littlejohn enjoyed interacting with her community in that way. It was a way for her to try something new and do something else that nobody was doing.
Being an out-of-state student, Littlejohn built the same type of relationships with her new softball family in Tuscaloosa that she had in Rusk. She and the team are always hanging out with one another. Whether it be at practice or a friend's house, they are always together.
"They are very uplifting," Littlejohn said. "It's a breath of fresh air being able to be with my team."
Having the support of her family and teammates makes the experience even greater for Littlejohn. She loves the game, her teammates, her coaches and, of course, the fans.
"If I can just really take in every moment, enjoy it, enjoy my teammates and hang out with them every chance I get, that'll make it harder for me once the season is over because I'll miss it so much," Littlejohn said. "I want to leave the game loving it."
