RANKINGS
EVENTS
I COMMITTED
COLLEGE
ABOUT
Quietly effective, humble to a fault, and used to taking people by surprise.
For her entire career in softball, Faith Hensley has fit the bill on all three of those characteristics. After spending the first four years of her career at Ball State, Hensley transferred to Alabama this summer and will spend her final season of college softball in a Crimson Tide uniform.
Across her first two seasons as a college softball player, Hensley started all of three games and appeared in just thirty-four. Primarily a pinch-runner and pinch-hitter in those two seasons, the opportunities were rare, but when they came, she pounced.
Her first career hit? A three-run home run in a pinch-hitting appearance in mid-March of freshman year. Then, before the COVID-19 pandemic prematurely ended the 2020 season, Hensley was 5-11 at the plate. Her first hit of that sophomore year? A two-RBI single in a game that she originally entered as a pinch-hitter.
The effectiveness, though still quiet, was becoming more known by the time the 2021 season rolled around. For the casual softball fan, though, there were still a few surprises in store.
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When that 2021 season came, Hensley found herself in a starting role. Left field was her primary home, though she occasionally occupied center or right instead; as the year wore on, no matter what part of the outfield she roamed on a given day, Hensley had become a fixture in the BSU lineup.
The opportunity to start everyday paid off; Hensley led her team with a .390 batting average on the year, tied for 14th in the country with seventeen doubles; and paced her squad in on-base percentage, slugging percentage, RBIs, and home runs.
Through the course of the year, Hensley notched eight game-winning RBIs. Extra inning home runs, grand slams, and even capping off comeback rallies were all part of the Faith Hensley Effect.
Even as she had such successes – the list of which also included all-conference and all-region honors after the season – there was still a small voice in Hensley’s mind.
“Getting to go out and start every game was so much fun,” she recalls. “But there was just a little voice still saying, ‘Are you good enough? You need to prove yourself.'”
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In the midst of everything that playing college softball carries with it, there are always other things on a student-athlete’s plate and Hensley was no exception.
A biology major, Hensley graduated this summer with a pre-medical preparation degree. After she finishes her final year of softball eligibility, she’ll head to medical school. Mentioning orthopedic surgery as a potential career path – the final answer isn’t set in stone yet – she mentions a background in that field, as well as the fact that there aren’t a lot of women in that specialty. “I think it would be cool to kind-of crack it open.”
Finding a balance between such pursuing an in-depth major and other activities, including softball, is something at which Hensley has worked hard. “There’s been a lot of pressure in finding that school/social/athletics balance,” Hensley said. “I actually have had several conversations with myself about the pursuit of perfection. Knowing that I cannot be perfect at every single thing that I do has always been challenging for me, because I’m a very Type A personality… sometimes my softball is not going to be at its best, sometimes I’m not going to get an A on a test, and that’s okay. It really is just me being comfortable in my own skin.”
Oh, and in case you’re wondering about that background in orthopedic surgery that she mentioned?
“[It comes from] getting injured a lot,” Hensley notes with a hearty laugh. “I broke like twelve bones when I was a kid. I was a competitive gymnast and I was constantly getting hurt. Always in the doctor’s office and I have an X-ray list a mile long.”
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Cool, calm, and collected in any scenario when she’s on the softball field, Hensley in-fact seems to thrive when the spotlight is on her and the pressure is cranked up to full volume. She credits that coolness to a unique perspective she acquired as a way to counteract some personal mental health struggles through college.
“I’ve had a really long journey with anxiety and depression through college,” she explains. “Getting with the right resources, really working on myself all the time and looking at my anxiety as really my biggest strength in a situation has really helped me thrive in those pressure situations.”
Anxiety, her biggest strength? Indeed.
“It’s something that I talked a lot about with one of my coaches,” Hensley said. “We talked about how, with my anxiety, I reframe it to look at it as if I’m hyper-focused, like I’m locked into every pitch. I’m locked into every at-bat and I’m aware of things that other people might not notice. And I use all of that information as a way to make myself better, as opposed to letting it just consume me.”
In-game mindset is itself an important part of any athlete’s approach, and Hensley is no exception to that rule. When she steps into the box in those same, pressure-filled situations, her approach is both in-depth and simplistic in its nature.
“The first that I always tell myself is that, regardless of the situation, I can beat whoever’s pitching,” Hensley said. “I don’t care if it’s my best friend, someone who has struck me out a million times… I always tell myself that I’m going to win the at-bat. Knowing the situation is important when I determine what’s my goal? I’m never trying to hit a home run or place a ball in necessarily the perfect spot – it’s more of how can I help my team? Do we need to score a run, do I just need to get on base? Determining my end goal and then I just try to execute that to the best of my ability.
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During the 2022 softball season, Hensley was better than she’d ever been between the white lines. The Mid-American Conference Player of the Year, a first-team Academic All-American, an All-Region First Team honoree; her trophy case was bursting at the seams by the time her true senior year ended.
Originally intending to return to Ball State for her final season of eligibility, at the end of May, Hensley’s name appeared in the NCAA’s transfer portal. Transferring, she says, was not a decision that she took lightly.
“I didn’t leave Ball State with any kind of resentment or hard feelings at all,” Hensley noted. “A couple of my best friends started entering the transfer portal and it was really a sign to me that I need to make the most of this final year that I have of softball. I wanted to optimize that experience.”
After entering the portal, she got the attention that one might expect a reigning conference Player of the Year to receive. As she navigated the sometimes-ominous waters that are the portal and its effects, Hensley says she had a few intangible factors that were at the top of her priority list in a new home.
“I did not know what to expect from the portal,” she said. “It was very overwhelming. [But I knew] I wanted a family, a place that is going to value you as a person forever.”
Her on-campus visit to one school made all the difference that it needed to and in early July, Hensley committed to join the Alabama Crimson Tide. “You know the old saying ‘when you know, you know’?” Hensley mused. “That sums it up perfectly.”
And what of joining the SEC, of taking the step into the nation’s deepest league where every conference series feels like a Super Regional?
“There’s always that ‘what if’ at the back of your brain,” Hensley said shortly after committing to Alabama. “I really have been sitting down and thinking about this process… I’ve been successful against good teams in the past and I’m not afraid to work my butt off and face them every weekend. I’m going to be confident, but I’m going to prepare and really lock in and do what I have to do to be the best at the highest level.”
Former travel ball teammates Montana Fouts and Ashley Prange will now reunite with Hensley, as the trio that once won a PGF national championship in travel ball will wear the same uniform once-again. The addition of Hensley gives the Tide an even-greater class of “super seniors”, a group that also includes catcher and former Tennessee transfer Ally Shipman.
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Superlatives and clichés are great, but Hensley isn’t quite a catch-phrase gal. In fact, something she herself said might be the best way to sum up who she is, the success that she has had, and what’s to come in one final year of college softball:
“When you’re feeling nothing but pure joy while playing, it’s really easy to be confident.”
That little voice in her head now has its answer.