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USC GAMECOCK – JULIE SARRATT
“…so you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do above and beyond all that we ask or think – according to the power that works in you – to Him be glory…” - Ephesians 3:19-21
When I was 8 years old, I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior and was baptized. I began playing travel softball when I was 9 years old, which made it difficult to get to church every Sunday and Wednesday, and that was really hard for me to accept. When I started playing for my travel ball organization, we had weekly devotions and formed our team around Jesus Christ.
At this point, I began connecting softball with God. Once I realized that I wasn’t just playing softball for myself, it changed my outlook on the game. Ephesians 3:21 says “to Him be the glory.” Every time I go out to practice or play a game, I am playing for the glory and honor of God. As athletes, we are called to bring Christ to the game.
Before every game, I pray to let others see Christ through me, so win or lose, as long as someone saw Him, the game was a success.
-Julie
FCA Softball Testimonies
The Lord; our God, tells us to bring all thoughts, requests and petitions to Him in prayer. I do believe in the power of prayer and that is my testimony! As a little girl, when I said my prayers at night I would ask the Lord; “Why did you give me such talent in an area with no opportunities?” You see, when I was a little girl, society made it perfectly clear that girls where not suppose to be athletic because girls were not allowed to play on any organized sport teams. I had to watch from a distance as my brothers and neighborhood friends play Little League baseball even though I had the ability to compete with them. Literally, I prayed every day that I would get a chance to play. As I look back on those days, I realize that I was on a team all along; God’s team! He had a plan to answer my prayers all along and in bigger ways than I could possibly imagine! God hears our prayers! He is the POWER of our lives! Eternally! “Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work in us.” - Ephesians 3:20 Dot Richardson Dot Richardson M.D. Two-time Olympic Gold Medalist (’96 & ’00) Five time World Championships & Pan American NCAA Player of the Decades (‘80’s) NCAA National Championship (’82) Five time Collegiate All-American (UCLA/WIU)
I started playing softball at the age of four, and growing up my schedule revolved around practice, games, and the recruiting process. Once I got to high school, the pressure of being offered a softball scholarship increased exponentially. I attended several camps, clinics, and showcase tournaments to reach the goal of playing in college. As my focus became more directed toward softball, the more I turned away from God. December of my Sophomore year is when my life was flipped upside down. When the doctor said, "you need shoulder surgery," the only life I knew suddenly was not the same. I was right in the middle of trying to earn a college scholarship and who was going to recruit someone fresh out of surgery? I felt that all I worked for was now for nothing, and it was going to be a long rehabilitation process to try to get anywhere close to where I was before. It was not until I stepped away from the game, that I saw the bigger picture. God had a bigger purpose for my life, greater than anything I had ever imagined. At times it was hard to trust God through the long recovery process, but I kept going on with perseverance and trusting God's plan. After an extensive rehabilitation, I was finally released to be back on the field. Not long after that, I was offered the opportunity to play for Georgia Tech. It was then I finally saw God's plan unveil in my life. If it was not for the timing of my surgery and God putting me in the right place at the right time, I may have never been given this opportunity. Looking back at it all now, God placing me through this trial, not only helped me mature in my faith, but carved out the next step of my life that four years ago I never even believed was possible. Morgan Taylor
December 6, 2012. That’s the day I committed myself to the Lord and made the decision to change my life in a way I never knew possible. I grew up in a non- Christian home with two parents and a sister. My dad was catholic so we were the typical Easter Sunday family until it became impossible with athletics. When I was in 8th grade, I went to a camp where I met Robin Ahrberg, a 4-year letter winner for softball at FSU. We eventually got to the point where she was my hitting instructor. She came into college not being a Christian but within her first year and a half, she was saved. At the time, I thought it was weird and thought she was joining some sort of cult, but we kept the friendship we had. Fast-forward about 5 years to my freshman year of college. I signed to play softball at Georgia Tech and major in some sort of engineering field. I came into college ready for the parties and the freedom. Nowhere in the back of my head did I believe I would be apart of anything religious. One of my roommates and teammates, Caroline Hilton, was a new Christian. For about a month she would ask every Thursday if I would go to Bible Study at CCF, Christian Campus Fellowship. I kept blowing her off and really was just annoyed she kept asking. I finally went just so she would stop asking me. I found that I really enjoyed the singing although I didn’t know what the words actually met. I went every week for about a month because of the atmosphere and community and went to Midtown church on Sunday, but I still went out every weekend. I eventually stopped going for some reason until the spring semester. Chris House, Caroline, and another roommate Elaina bought me a great study bible that Christmas, but I never really opened it. That spring I started really listening to the word and was finding out who God really was and what it means to live a Godly life. When my relationship of almost three years ended, I found comfort in the people at CCF and in the comfort of God. I still wasn’t living the life of a Christian and I had the urge to go out every weekend. By the time the summer rolled around, I went to church a few times with Robin or alone, but that didn’t last long. I began on the opposite path again; I didn’t go to church again all summer and my bible was untouched. Eventually school started back up and I continued going to CCF and also 925 – mostly for the social aspects. As the semester went on, family problems erupted and I turned straight to God because I wasn’t comfortable talking to anyone else about personal problems. In November of 2012, about 7 teammates and me went on the Panama City Beach Retreat with CCF. At this point Caroline had graduated and was an intern along with about 14 other people at CCF. I was having a great time, meeting new people, playing on the beach, and worshipping Jesus with my team. That Saturday night, Carline gave her testimony and when she ended with her part on redemption and being redeemed, I felt a feeling that was too real to even explain. I reflected on my struggles - current and past - and was able to see how God was working in them. I realized that regardless of every sin I’ve ever committed, He wants me even more because of it. At that moment I have never felt something so prevalent and real and it’s a feeling I want to live with forever. At that point I committed myself to the Lord by baptism December 6, 2012 in a freezing cold lake in Atlanta. The months after that were more rewarding than any other time in my life. I was a better teammate, friend and player because I wasn’t worried about worldly successes or failures, but about the bigger prize at the end. However, being in the Kingdom of God doesn’t exempt you from trials. The summer of 2013 was the hardest time in my life to this point. My parents were going through a separation, my mom was moving to Texas for a new job, and I felt so lost and alone. By the time their divorce was settled, I wasn’t doing everything the Godly way. I was making decisions based on other people and based on what I was going through – not the way God had intended. Because I didn’t want to talk to many people about it, I had no choice but to turn to God. He really made everything so much easier and while a lot of my family never understood why I took this route of becoming a Christian, it was something I wanted to ground myself in and stay committed to because I know the feeling it gives me. It’s been just over a year since making a covenant with the Lord and I still have temptations and urges all the time. Every week when the temptations are magnified by the weekend, I think about the eternal prize and what the godly decision is. These decisions are made much easier being surrounded by the right people like Alysha Rudnik, House, Robin and Caroline. And although I am in the middle of many of my trials still, I recognize and strive for the end goal. I realize that Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior and that whatever I have been through or will face, He will take care of it. I’m in it for the eternal prize. Caitlyn Coffey Georgia Tech Softball (Junior)
My parents are believers so I grew up in the church. I learned about Jesus from both of their influences. I also started playing softball when I was 6. I'd say my life leading up to college could be described by the word 'good'. I had good friends, made good grades, was good at sports, and was a good girl. People told me I was good and I believed them. I also felt like I was good with Jesus. Then I got to college. I can remember telling God, "I still love you and all but I want to do my own thing for a while." I wanted to make a name for myself, so that's what I did. On the outside I wouldn't say I was ruining my life or anything but the choices I was making were not honoring to God and little by little they were tearing me up inside. Once I realized I didn't want to be hurting inside I knew I needed God but I tried to earn his love and redemption by 'being good'. But it didn't work. This was all happening my sophomore year and I remember being very frustrated and weary about it all. That summer I did a bible study with an old coach from high school. For the first time I was reading God's Word and He was speaking to me, telling me who He is and who I am in Him. I knew a lot about Jesus but for the first time I was beginning to know Him like I would a friend. It was amazing. Surrendering to Him was better than living for myself. From there my desire to know God has grown so much. Over the past two years God has answered so many prayers, given me such a wonderful community of believers and changed my heart to be more like His every day. When I look back at my life when things were 'good' I realize I had no idea how truly good and joyful life could be fully surrendered to Jesus Christ. And I believe the best is yet to come! Alysha Rudnik
Softball is a sport that you have to take one day at a time. It is easy to love softball one day and hate it the next. I have found this especially true in college as I have gone through so many changes and adjustments to every aspect of my game. Not only that, it is a hard life being a student-athlete that juggles 6 AM workouts, a full load of classes, and practice. It isn’t always easy to be excited for practice or workouts when you are tired or are struggling in this game of failure. However, the biggest thing that I continually pray to God to guide me in is having a character that is not shaken by the circumstances around me. There are a lot of days that I don’t want to go to class or do certain drills that are challenging or go the extra mile in the weight room. However, no matter what is happening in my life, I always know and am reminded through His word that I am loved by the God of this universe. I even tell myself this every time before I step into that hitter’s box. When I look at life with this perspective, what more could I ask for? My soul is eternally secured and I have a life of joy knowing that softball doesn’t define me as a person. Even though it doesn’t seem like it, there is more to life than softball. My purpose in life is to glorify God and I can do that whether I hit a homerun or strikeout. Every day I can show up excited and am willing to put in the hard work because I am not doing it for myself or even the coaches, I am working hard for the Lord. I constantly pray that God will help me focus my eyes on Him and He has helped me beyond my understanding and not matter the outcome or the circumstance, I feel successful knowing that I gave it all for Him. Softball, school, this life is not about me and having this truth has allowed me to experience life and softball to the fullest as God intended me to. Jessie Kowalewicz
I was raised in church and saved at a very young age. It may sound crazy, but God has used the game of softball to make me stronger as a person and as a Christian. To really give my testimony, I have to give you some background information about my softball career. I totally fell in love with the game of softball when I was about 8 years old, but there was just one little problem, I really wasn’t very good at it. I finally made a local “select team” but I spent a lot of time sitting the bench. I practiced and practiced and prayed and prayed. I really wanted to be good enough to just contribute to my team. Finally, I earned a position in the outfield and in the line-up, but I really wanted to be a pitcher. I played in the outfield and kept taking pitching lessons for four years. The pitching coach I went to told my parents that I had NO potential. My parents, as loving and supportive as they are, were tired of seeing me struggle and wondered if I should give up pitching. Something inside me just wouldn’t allow that. Finally, my travel team coach, Dennis Gilcrease, told my parents about a pitching coach in Tyler, Texas about an hour and a half from my hometown. They decided to take me there and see what he had to say. The first day I met Bob Phelps (the pitching coach), he said, “Well, you look like a pitcher to me!” Dennis, my select team coach told me that he was going start putting me in to pitch. Our little team needed another pitcher and he thought I could do the job. He didn’t care what happened, win or lose, I was going to get some experience. That day, in one lesson, I gained five miles an hour. My confidence grew and grew. I had a few struggles in my games but it didn’t last long. I made drastic improvements in a very short period of time. People who had watched me pitch just months before couldn’t believe what they were seeing. Throughout this four year period, between the ages of 8-12, God was really working in my heart. I was learning more about Him and trying to find my place in the world to serve Him. I was so humbled that God would bless me in this way and allow me to actually be good at the game I loved so much. Looking back at all of this, I can see God’s hand in everything. When you know what it is like to sit the bench, you appreciate success so much more. You cannot even imagine the amount of pitches I’ve thrown and the hours my dad spent sitting on the bucket catching for me! If it had come easy, then I may not have learned to have a love for team like I do now and my faith wouldn’t have grown. I didn’t care about being the star, I just wanted to contribute. I wanted to be able to say, “My team won the game and I helped them.” Throughout all of this, God was with me the whole time; He never left my side! After I started to improve, I started setting goals for myself. One of my goals was to make varsity as a freshman in high school. I also had a goal to win a state championship before I graduated. I made varsity as a freshman and had a good season. My sophomore year, I had right around 400 strikeouts on the season but we lost our 1st play-off game. I’ll never forget how that felt. 400 strikeouts are meaningless if you can’t lead your team to victory in even one play-off game. I began to pray about our upcoming season and God began to show me so many things. It was around this time that I started to get some attention from college coaches. I was just playing on a local select team. My parents and I knew nothing about how to get college exposure. My high school coach, Jimmy Eby, really helped me so much with this. He made phone calls for me and got the ball rolling. He continually told me to not be satisfied and to keep trying to improve, and I could actually go to a big college. Just around the time that it was crucial for me to be at my best for summer ball, I developed a stress facture in my lower leg again. (This was the second time this had happened). I was not able to practice for about a month before the exposure tournament in Colorado. During this time, Coach Eby had been in touch with Coach Howard Dobson about me. Coach Torina came down to Lufkin to watch me pitch. I had not pitched in over a month and I had a stress fracture, but she was still interested. I started to visit some colleges and pray about where God wanted me to be in college. It was a very overwhelming process and I felt under so much pressure. When I visited LSU, it felt like home to me and I really felt like Coach Beth could help me more than anyone to become a better pitcher. God gave me a peace when I was there and I knew that LSU would be my home one day. With this decision behind me, it was time to focus on my next high school season. I had been praying about it for almost a year. I was in a new place as an athlete, people EXPECTED me to do good. I had always been the underdog and I was so comfortable in that position. It was a kind of pressure I had never felt and I had some mental struggles that I had never dealt with. I didn’t really like all of the attention that I was getting, (positive or negative). God gave me the verse Phillipians 4:13 which says, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” I clung to this verse. It became the theme for our season. Our assistant softball coach, Wes Capps, starting sending me Bible verses every night. I started to feel stronger and stronger. That year, we learned to believe in ourselves and in each other and we won the 3A State Softball Championship in Texas. We were the first team ever from our school to win a state championship. Going into my next high school season I prayed about what our theme verse should be for my final year. Everywhere I turned I saw the verse, 2 Corinthians 5:7 “For we walk by faith, not by sight”. Little did I know, I was going to learn to do just that my senior year! It wasn’t a fun lesson to learn. I wasn’t 100% for most of the season because I hurt my back and our team went into a hitting slump. We suffered two very humiliating losses to our district rivals, one where I gave up a homerun. It seemed like we just weren’t going to be able to have the same success as the year before, but we continued to walk by faith and not go on what we were seeing. We managed to make it to regionals, and my back was at the worst it had been all year. I hurt to just walk out on the field but somehow, with the help of God, my teammates and coaches, I muddled through and we won. I know that God was teaching me to rely on my teammates. We went on to win our 2nd state championship in a row and we were the 1st 3A team in Texas to ever win back to back! My team carried me through that championship game by scoring 12 runs. When you work really hard your whole life for something and you experience success, you tend to get prideful. Pride can be good but sometimes in can be bad. I can honestly say that throughout my softball career, there has never been a time that I haven’t totally had to rely on God. . Looking back I’m so thankful that God has taught me so many things in my young life. I’ve learned to put my faith in Him and to always stay humble. I’m glad nothing has come easy for me in my softball career. God keeps me mindful of who got me where I am today. He put all of the right people in my life along the way. I can’t thank those people enough. Most importantly, God was there. He was there when I was sitting the bench all those years ago and He was there on the mound with me in the final outs of those state championship games. I hope that my life and softball career can be a testimony for God’s faithfulness. I also hope that I can be an example to trust in God and never give up. Who would have thought that me of all people would have the privilege to play softball for a school like LSU? …but it happened! Now, I’m facing new challenges in my career here at LSU, but I won’t give up. There is no doubt in my mind that I’m where I belong and that God has a perfect plan. I’m learning new things each day and once again, my dream is to be able to contribute to my team. With God’s help, and the help of my teammates and coaches, I know I can do it! Kelsee Selman
Contact Info
PO Box 27033, Greenville, SC 29616, United States
(864) 356-7649
djenkins@fca.org