RANKINGS
EVENTS
I COMMITTED
COLLEGE
ABOUT
For the last several years, we’ve followed the moves (literally!) of Jordyn Stuessy, the 2024 Extra Elite 100 pitcher/outfielder/first baseman and self-proclaimed “military BRAT” who has moved around the country multiple times as her father, Kevin Stuessy, is a Captain in the United States Air Force.
In August of 2020, the athlete and her family made what looks to be their last move as Captain Stuessy retired from the military and they transitioned from California to Texas; you can read below Jordyn’s previous articles detailing the anxious process of waiting and finding out where she would finish out her high school and club careers:
- Inside Pitch: Jordyn Stuessy On What It’s Like to be A Softball-Playing Military BRAT (November 26, 2019)
- Inside Pitch: Softball-Playing “Military BRAT” Jordyn Stuessy… “We’re Moving Again!” (March 6, 2020)
A year later, Jordyn updates us on how the last year went as the incoming sophomore looks back and recaps her life in the Lone Star State!
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What a difference a year makes!
My last article a year ago involved my move from California and how it was scary and exciting as well as doing all this in the middle of a pandemic.
The highs and lows of a season and my first year in high school was both a personal challenge and rewarding and I hope people who read these articles can understand on their own personal level that you are not alone in the daily challenges of managing softball, life, school, recruiting, relationships, SATs/ACTs, grades, social activities and, of course, the demands of the teams you represent.
I will admit it: my softball life is hard… but my softball life is also very rewarding!
I have not completed anything past my freshman year so far, but I do believe the transition from year-round travel/select ball from 8th grade and below to high school and select ball is just something one must experience.
I enjoy writing these and expressing my thoughts will hopefully help other softball players somewhere and they can relate!
My 2020-2021 Softball Life
Starting a new school (Davenport High in San Antonio, Texas) and new club team (Athletics Mercado-Bonola 2024) was hard!
I struggled at first trying to be a dual-sport athlete with both select softball and high school volleyball. The hours required for both sports, plus homework as well as lessons sometimes felt overwhelming.
I pushed myself harder than I have in the past wanting to impress my coaches and, even though I am not from California, it was the last place I left, and California softball has a certain reputation of elite play and I didn’t want to disappoint.
Injured, But Not in Softball
Unfortunately, I ended up with a pretty bad hip flexor strain when playing volleyball.
This was crushing because I felt I let my select softball team down while playing a secondary sport. The dedication I have given to pitching and playing softball, as well as the expectations my coaches had along with my parents sacrifices, was one of the toughest spots I had been in with me sidelined.
It was my first serious injury that has sidelined me and because of it I only pitched 20 innings in the Fall. When I did pitch, I did not feel 100 percent and was not aggressive in the circle.
I knew I had to get better, but I was stuck in rehab and unable to do a lot of things to improve.
It was my first true Physical Therapy (“PT”) rehabilitation with scheduled appointments and weekly sessions and, I admit it, it was a love/hate relationship.
I honestly think PT should be called “Pain and Torture” rehabilitation instead. She pushed me to not only get better, but to get stronger, find my weak spots and improve.
It is also true about your play: work on your weak areas! I am better for going through PT and learned the health side of sports and the necessity to take care of your body.
I eventually got better but by that time, Fall was done with select and we had to get ready for high school softball. My first year without spring select ball was a very strange feeling. My select team is made up of all 2024 players but half of us were in 9th grade, while the other half were 8th graders.
So while they were still running around in Spring as a select team kicking butt and winning tournaments, the rest of us had various levels of playing experience in high school. All but a few made Varsity, but then some barely played and some played a lot.
High School Ball
For me, since I was going to a new school, it was our first year for everything and I played a lot! Not all sports were varsity in the first year, but our softball team was.
This was probably the most mentally challenging season I have ever been through. We didn’t have any seniors, only two juniors and the rest were sophomores and freshmen. A total of four select players and I was the only pitcher unless our junior shortstop (committed to Schreiner University) came in for a quick relief (but she hadn’t pitch in four years!).
Despite the learning curve, I loved playing for my high school team. There were definite frustrations when routine plays my select team could do were not done in high school; don’t get me wrong, I was not perfect myself in the circle and it challenged me as a leader.
It challenged me to show others where we need to be and not where we are.
The biggest change I could tell was by the end of the year, we started to play for each other and not for ourselves. Because of this, we won two of our last three district games and our last game was a win-or-go-home game to get in playoffs.
We lost but it wasn’t bad for a first-year program… and as a team I felt we won.
I was named the San Antonio Player of the Week during the season when we won back-to-back district games in which I pitched 14 innings, allowed 0 earned runs, had 15 K’s and went .500 at the plate.
Another big milestone was going over 100 K’s for the season and earning 2nd team All District as a freshman. We are playing in a Texas 4A district but ours had two of the eight finalists for the state and several of those players are in the 2021 and 2022 Elite Elite 100 rankings. It’s a tough district for any team let alone a new program!
It was a special year and will be remembered as the first varsity team ever for Davenport High School. Unfortunately, we will have a learning curve again since our coach left for personal reasons at the end of the year; however it should be a short learning curve and big jump for this program with our new coach, Michael Dansby.
He is a former college baseball player and has over 20 years of softball coaching. I can’t wait to meet him and get started! Playoffs or bust for 2022!
Travel Ball
The transition from high school ball to select ball this year was by far the strangest one I ever had.
I was coming off a high of being the only pitcher in most games, winning awards and even having some dominating games in the circle. Now I am pitching two or three innings at a time and benched if a few walks or hits are given up.
The biggest adjustment was turning into a pitcher only. I batted in the 3-4-5 holes for my high school team, now I am mostly watching people hit.
It was not only an adjustment for me but all returning high school players. The 8th grade squad for our team is tough, gritty and can hold their own against a lot of teams. As each of us came back depending on each of our high school seasons or playoff loss, it was a very strange dugout for a few games.
We have always had good chemistry on the team and still did. I love my travel teammates, but the feel of the games, the feel of the teamwork and the amount of playing time was changed.
It took a few tournaments to get that mojo back. We have some great hitters on our team and for me to crack into that lineup I know I have to still practice hitting and when given the opportunities, have to do well and take advantage.
I think part of it is the 8th versus 9th grade difference.
The high school players practiced Monday through Friday every day during spring and then rolled right into select ball and there was some confusion or frustration by our team on why we’re not kicking butt as soon as high school players got back.
Some of us got a high amount of playing time, others didn’t, some got great instruction and some of us didn’t. Some of us were sore and some of us fresh. I was on the sore side. I pitched over 2,000 pitches in my high school season and was mentally fatigued but you want to go out to your select team as soon as you can to show what you can do.
I jumped into the first tournament when high school ball was done and didn’t look back, but sometimes it can backfire if there’s no mental break.
Confidence Crisis
There are so many ups and downs in a year: injuries, hitting slumps, homework, getting your drivers permit, relationships, but the worst for a pitcher is a confidence problem.
June was by far my hardest and worst month. Coming off high school, I thought I was ready for select. After all, I was pitching to 18-year-olds and some of them were seniors and heading to play in college next year.
I didn’t get them all out, but I had some confidence coming “back down” to select 14U. I learned very quick, there is NOTHING about select 14U that is “back down!”
I got roughed up a bit in some important moments for our team and, frankly, I feel I let them down.
In the Tulsa Elite quarterfinal I didn’t make it out of the first inning. The next tournament I had a few good games and then in a championship game I didn’t make it out of first inning again.
I lost some confidence in my pitching which is never what you want to do as you head into Colorado Power Pool, but my team was amazing and they had my back when I was out there (including some incredible outs at home!) and we finished 5th in Power Pool.
I was able to come out of Colorado alright—it was not my best, but not my worst—and I was not used as much as I set my personal goal for but that is what happens with pitchers.
That circle in the middle of the diamond is a tough mental location in the field. I had to dig myself out and earn that spot in the circle back.
I started off the TFL Championships well and continued my play holding opponents down which helped my team earn a Tier 1 berth for the Alliance Fastpitch Championships in Florida.
I was still working back up the depth chart and proving to my coaches I can go farther and harder in games. I was working hard, getting stronger and I felt I was the most confident I have been in a long time heading into the Alliance Championships.
Alliance Fastpitch National Championship
My team recently finished up at the AFCS and, though we had one of the #1 seeds going into the tournament, we unfortunately did not perform up to our standards.
My renewed confidence came through a few times especially in the beginning of the tournament. I was able to come in relief after the 1st inning of our first game and help on a near comeback going five innings with six strikeouts but we lost in the end.
But life as a pitcher can be a roller coaster ride.
As good as I did in Game 1 relief, my first start did not go well. After two innings and getting knocked a little by a tough Tampa Mustang team, we had maybe the most fun I have had in a while with my team.
This is why I love our pitching staff—we can pick each other up if we have a bad outing.
Just as I relieved someone in Game 1, a teammate picked me up in game 2 when it was needed. We had a two-hour rain delay and eventually went into IDT for two innings before we ended up winning 8-6!
It showed that it didn’t matter if one person messed up, we would pull together and work hard to fight for each other. I feel that game helped propel us late into the tournament and I was able to finish strong.
I went five innings against Firecracker Kingery (we already played them twice in Colorado going 1-1.) and even though we lost 3-0, me and my D were able to stay in the game.
I do feel the best moment for me and something all pitchers dream (or fear!) happened the game before. Bottom 7, up 3-1, bases loaded, two outs against a Diamond Fury team that beat us in Power Pool Colorado.
The last batter was walked in to make it 3-2 so they call me to go in and get one out. It’s a situation where you ask yourself: “are you going to fold or stand strong and pull through?”
You dream of a strikeout, but a line out to right field on 0-1 pitch worked for me!
All in all, we were one of the last teams standing late on Saturday elimination bracket. It was the last time this year we will play together and even though it wasn’t the result we wanted, it was a great team and we fought for one another even when one of us had a bad game, strikeout or error.
Burnout
Even though we are done, there are some teams are still playing PGF and there’s an event next week in Oklahoma, I think there are many players burned out at this point.
I think the best thing our coaches did the week prior to Alliance was give the whole team off a week. No practices and relax. Enjoy life. It recharged us and my teammates!
But it’s not just us or our team with some burn out. We talk and see it on all teams. In between all these tournaments, it was also time for many to cram softball camps into our summer schedule.
With the NCAA allowing us to see and talk to coaches again at camps, I was very excited to sign up, but in the middle of summer season, it was wearing on us (and I mean all of us; you get to know several softball buddies as you go to camps, meet other players, develop a togetherness that we are all in this together).
But some are reaching a tipping point. One girl was living out of a suitcase for the past three weeks going to camps, tournaments and didn’t know what day it was. She was thinking about telling her parents she wanted to quit.
In all the excitement to get back to normal, I think we all went on softball overload! It’s a fine line to figure out what is normal. When I have more than a few days off from softball, I miss it. But there is a balance each player must find, and it is not the same for any of us.
A moment earlier this year helped me find that balance but it came with some unfortunate news.
The Loss of a Loved Coach
A coach when I lived in Louisiana, Coach Pat Defee, passed away suddenly. He was my 10U Coach when I played for G1 Impact. When I lived in Louisiana, there were some rough years trying to fit into a small community, finding my place in the line up knowing I was moving.
But there was one constant of support outside my parents and that was Coach Pat.
He always coached for the girls and tried to ensure girls enjoyed the game and improved. His two daughters were teammates on that team. They are both still paying and at a national level kicking butt!
Ava Defee is a great pitcher on Impact Gold – Hays, a team we know well as another squad from Texas. We had some battles this year with them and I am so glad she is continuing to play. I remember back to when we had an epic 10U game for 1st place. We lost 1-0 and she and I combined with over 20 strikeouts (for the record we evened the series later that season).
Coach Defee was such a good spirit and I feel for Ava and his other daughter Dylan. Many softball prayers go out to them and the small community he was such a big part of in NW Louisiana.
Reviewing Year 1
My first year in Texas was full of experiences and you realize you can never take anything for granted.
You don’t know if the next pitch will sideline you for a season or get you that perfect change-up, caught-looking strikeout.
Coach Pat’s passing taught me to value times playing catch with my Dad, traveling with my mom to games and enjoying my teammates in the dugout.
I can’t believe I am starting 16U ball next season. All the camps, clinics, and twitter feeds we all post are becoming real in reaching our ultimate goal which is to play in college and find the right fit.
This next year I expect it to be just as epic, wild, stressful, and challenging.
But to all who read this—especially as we all head to the dreaded month of August, the month of tryouts, I encourage us all to stop and ENJOY the game, find balance but WORK to succeed!
As this year taught me, it all goes faster than we want!
— Jordyn Stuessy, #39, RHP for Athletics Mercado-Bonola