Last December, we had a chance to profile Taylor Snow—the tall pitcher from LaSalle High in Olla, Louisiana—and were impressed with her in many ways as she had excelled in softball by winning club and high school titles, but also in how she balanced athletics with academics as she was ranked No. 1 in her class and carried a 4.0 GPA.
This past spring, Taylor was a 2nd Team All-American by Extra Inning Softball after she went 26-4 and led her team with seven home runs.
The future Ragin’ Cajun, who committed last November to Louisiana, was clocked at 67 mph in the Louisiana State High School Tournament and also has a swing-and-miss dropball.
Taylor is a three-time 1st team All-State pick and has compiled 575 K’s in her varsity career so far despite sharing the circle for two years with an older pitcher.
This summer she played her first year with the Texas Glory 18U team and says, “I couldn’t have been any happier with the amount of innings I got to throw all summer and it coming against some of the best teams around the country. Playing for Texas Glory has been a huge part of my development in getting me ready for ULL.”
Catching up with her at PGF Nationals, we asked Taylor to share her story and what she’s learned about the recruiting process which she could share with younger players.
She commented: “It’s always fun to think about where I’ve been and where I’m headed.”
Here’s her Inside Pitch on her softball journey and her thoughts and advice for those following a similar path…
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I started playing softball at eight-years-old and pitching was always something I wanted to do. I guess I knew I wanted the ball on every play!
Although my first pitching lesson lasted about three minutes, I didn’t stop there. I continued to work at it with my first pitching coach, Katie Hillestad where I learned all the basics.
I’ve been blessed with great pitching coaches through the years that always pushed me to be my best from Beth Torina, Dr. Sherry Werner and now John Ellyson.
My coaches, including my Dad, are always telling me not to worry about being perfect. Once you get the idea of being “perfect” out of your head, the word “throwing” turns into pitching.
I would say that being able to adjust and correct my pitching at any moment has been one of my greatest strengths.
My first games consisted of Dixie youth or “rec ball” at the age of 9. After three years, my family and I realized more intense competition was necessary to get better so my dad, Brian Causey, gathered the best girls in our area from three neighboring small towns in Central Louisiana who had similar softball goals and we formed a travel ball team.
As our Louisiana Thunder 12U team developed, we won over 15 tournaments in two years of just playing in the summer months. There were three pitchers on our team and all three of us will play college ball.
We mainly played within the state of Louisiana, but we did go to Panama City, Florida where we placed 3rd out of 114 teams in the USFA World Series. Being from a small country town, this accomplishment meant a lot to me, my teammates, our coaches, our parents, and our town.
I guess you could say, that was when I got bit by the “bug” and wanted more!
As my teammates and I grew older and started getting closer to high school, there were about five of us who wanted to play at an even higher level. We went to tryouts for a team out of New Orleans and we all made it.
About two months afterwards, though, the difficulty of traveling four-plus hours to practice took its toll and it was only two of us left. We continued to grow into ourselves, play better and face better competition. We worked every day, all summer, trying to improve our game.
While playing 14U, the recruiting process officially began and sending emails to coaches all over the U.S. was a steady job while informing coaches of our schedule along with my softball and career goals was the main objective.
As I was going into my freshman year, one of my best friends/teammate and I went on our first unofficial visit that fall.
Both of us got scholarship offers to that same university and being committed to a D1 school before even pitching in high school was quite eye-opening.
I was just a girl with a dream to play softball in college and being offered so early was the ultimate sense of flattery, but looking back I was feeling pressure from my travel team back in Louisiana to commit early.
In hindsight, I wish I would have taken some time to explore all my options.