By Katie von Behren
Executive Sports Editor
The long journey to success began when junior Brittany Werre first stepped up to the plate in t-ball at just five years old. She quickly realized her love for the game and began pursuing her dreams playing softball at the collegiate level.
After eleven years of hard work and dedication, her dream of becoming a college athlete became a reality. On September 2nd, Werre accepted an offer to play Division I softball at the University of Washington.
“It still has not hit me that I am going to play softball at Washington, it has been my dream since I was a little kid.” Werre said. “I grew up watching Huskie football so it’s amazing that I get to be apart of Washington’s athletics while getting a great education.”
Werre trains on two teams in addition to private coaching for more than ten hours a week. She has been on five travel softball teams and recently joined SoCal Explosion. Werre is also a captain and starting infielder on the Mira Costa Softball team.
“From day one Brittany has shown that she does everything at full speed and is a team player with a tremendous work ethic,” head coach of So Cal explosion, Bret Denio said. “Washington is getting a kid who is committed to growing as a player and is not afraid to do whatever it takes to be successful.”
The University of San Diego and Seattle University were among the many schools with top softball programs that also expressed interest in Werre. During the recruitment process, coaches often attended the frequent showcases and tournaments during the travel ball season to see Werre play.
“Brittany is a great little player as well as leader on the team, she puts in a lot of effort and I love to see her improvement each year,” Mira Costa head Coach Dick Amberik said. “She puts in a lot of extra training time so she’s definitely on the proper course and will be well prepared for college softball.”
Over the years Werre has travelled to softball tournaments all over the country including Florida, Colorado, New Jersey and Arizona. She has already won many championship titles with her teams as well as individual awards such as 2nd team all-around underclassmen, 2nd team all state medium schools and 2nd team Daily Breeze all area and 1st team all Bay-League.
“I really like the opportunity to play but what most attracted me to the game was the struggle to succeed and having to deal with failure, I’m very competitive and will do anything to play my best,” Werre said “It’s been hard to miss fun events and balance school but luckily I have a great support system and now I know that all the sacrifices for softball have been worth it.”
Werre has attended many of University of Washington’s softball camps and has become very familiar with the UW coaches, but understands the preparation involved to be ready for the intensity of collegiate softball. She plans to continue her role on both her high school and travel softball teams while maintaining a high academic status.
“Now that I am committed the pressure is on to work twice as hard, not only in softball but I have to focus on my academics as well, which will take a lot of time management,” Werre said “These next two years may be stressful but I look forward to my future life as a Huskie and as a college athlete.”
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