RANKINGS
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ABOUT
On her sixth birthday, Sandra Soltes closed her eyes, blew out the candles on her cake –and made a wish for something that most young six-year-olds don’t normally wish for.
“Pitt,” she whispered to herself.
Each year, each holiday, and on every special occasion—for as long as she can remember—Sandra’s wish was always the same: anything and everything “Pitt”.
For the record, “Pitt” wasn’t a doll, a truck, a ball, a game or even a puppy… “Pitt” was Pitt, as in the University of Pittsburgh, and, given the chance to wish for anything, it’s the only thing that Sandra remembers wishing for.
Sandra’s love for the ACC university all started when she was just a toddler. Her father, Andy was a big Pitt Panther fan and even went through the recruiting process himself in the mid-1990s when legendary coach Johnny Majors was at the helm of the football program.
While Andy ultimately did not get the opportunity to play at Pitt or for Coach Majors, the university and its athletic teams have always held a special place in his heart. And so by the time Sandra—Andy’s first of four children—was old enough to skip her afternoon nap, he began taking her to football games at Heinz field.
“Her reaction to the crowd, the cheering, the ambiance, the singing of “Sweet Caroline,” he recalls, “it was just so exciting to see her take it all in. I was given the gift of being able to watch my daughter fall in love with it all.”
Fast forward a few years and call it fate, destiny or even irony, but just when her parents thought that Sandra’s love for the Pitt Panthers couldn’t deepen, a second wave of “Pitt Magic” entered into Sandra’s life.
“When I was 12, I played travel softball for Team Pennsylvania and my coach was Shawn Gray,” the athlete explains. “As it turns out, Coach Shawn’s daughter was Olivia Gray, a freshman starter for the University of Pittsburgh’s softball team.”
“When she was free, Olivia would come to our practices to help out and work with us,” remembers Sandra.
The young softball player looked up to Olivia so much that she and her father Andy began going to all of the Pitt softball home games. It became routine for them to arrive early on game day so they could first walk the campus and then head to Vartabedian Field to watch the games.
It didn’t take long before a very outgoing determined Sandra got to know every player and coach on the Pitt softball team. In addition to getting to campus early and being one of the first at the games to watch warm-ups, Sandra would always stay after so she could talk to the players and coaches and get their autographs.
“She made it a point to tell everyone, ‘I can’t wait to play on that field one day,’” remembers her father.
While the players and coaches at that time may have got a chuckle at the ambitious words of their cute, young and, by far, biggest fan Andy and her family knew that Sandra was dead serious and had actually set a goal for herself at the moment… with those exact words.
That same year, Sandra was finally old enough to put the ball in motion towards her very clearly stated goal and attended her first Pitt Softball Camp when she was in just the 6th grade.
From that point forward, she attended every Panthers camp that was offered including general skills camps, specialty skills camps, weeknight training camps and eventually prospect camps.
She already had the attention of the Pitt coaching staff because of the relationship she had cultivated and the softball staff was interested in her skills, but it didn’t stop Sandra from being a staple at every camp and eventually holding the unwritten record of attending the most (15+) of any other player in Pitt camp history.
As special occasions, holidays and birthdays came and went (and candles were blown out each year), Sandra still closed her eyes and wished for anything and everything “Pitt,” but as she got older her wishes focused on her own personal goals and her dream to one day wear a Pitt jersey and play softball for the university that she loved so much.
Still, she kept an open mind and, with her dad by her side, Sandra began to travel out of the area with her softball team, the Ohio Lasers and made it a point to visit different colleges, walk around the campuses and get a feel for, well, how they compared to Pitt.
In a way, visiting other campuses was exactly what Sandra needed for herself in order to validate what she knew was in her heart all along. She visited dozens of schools and universities in her travels, but when asked to name her top five favorites she would just smile and say:
#1 Pitt
#2 Pitt
#3 Pitt
#4 Pitt
and oh yeah …
#5 Pitt.
By 2019, Sandra–a talented Class of ’22 catcher–was still young but it was her time now to really shine. The new recruiting rules meant she was unable to communicate directly with the coaches, so it was difficult for her know if they had a valid interest in her as a player.
Last summer and fall, however, was sprinkled with “Pitt magic” once again for Sandra and that time period really became her moment of truth. The Panther coaches were heavily recruiting Maya Johnson, a 2021 left-handed pitcher with outstanding speed, control and game sense and Sandra was, ironically. Maya’s wingman who took care of her from behind the plate, even calling her games at times.
Sandra and Maya had a strong chemistry as the Lasers top battery and important folks like Pitt Head Coach Jodi Hermanek and Assistant Pitt Coach Jillian Van Wagnen took notice.
Between the two, they came to see Maya and Sandra play in over 25 games at top events such as Team NJ, the PGF Midwest Firecracker and the Finesse Fall Showcase, and, while they couldn’t talk to Sandra about their interest, their presence at the games was all the inspiration that the young catcher needed.
With years of hard groundwork laid out and her cards now all placed on the table, Sandra took a deep breath and at the conclusion of the 2020 summer season, made one final move that she felt was important in order to reach her long-time goal.
With September 1st of her junior year approaching, both Sandra and Maya, her longtime teammate and now 2021 Pitt commit, made the decision to move to another club team and earn the opportunity to play a national level schedule.
Enter the PA Strikers National Team, which Sandra and Maya selected to play for this upcoming season (2020-2021) based on their recognition as a top college prep club team.
The pitcher and catcher had the firsthand experience of playing against the Strikers at Team NJ in the summer of 2019 and, simply put, they felt that if Coach Herm and Coach JVW were going to give Sandra a shot to play in the ACC, she wanted to show them she was ready by playing in the best tournaments in the country against the best players in the country with a talented group of teammates.
As the fall of 2020 arrived, Sandra found herself driving four hours one way to practices, but quickly established friendships, found chemistry and a sense of relief with her new PA Strikers teammates.
With the arrival of the fall came the day she had been long awaiting. Like most 2022s on the eve of September 1st, Sandra tried to stay calm. After all, she did everything she was told that she was supposed to do and more. Right?
With one last wish before the clock struck midnight, Sandra anxiously waited. At 12:01 AM, with her mom by her side, the text message she was waiting for came and the recruiting process officially started for her right out the gate.
In addition to Pitt, five other high-level schools contacted the athlete on September 1st with eventual requests to set up virtual visits and phone calls to admissions. Her hard work clearly paid off as her reputation as a player was solid and several other top schools contacted her shortly after with interest as well.
But it was the Pitt coaches with whom she checked in almost daily and on the evening of September 23rd, with a magical phone call from Coach Herm, the little girl who once closed her eyes and wished for everything “Pitt” was granted her biggest wish of all.
Years ago, an ambitious and determined 12-year-old Sandra Soltes pointed to Vartabedian Field and stated, “I can’t wait to play on that field one day.” That long-anticipated day will soon arrive, as the teenager is now a proud 2022 committed player to the University of Pittsburgh.
The big question moving forward is, simply… what does she wish for now?
*****
EXTRA INSIGHTS
Scroll down to learn more about Sandra and who she is on and off the field (we asked… she answered):