By Giselle Cancio/Staff Writer
Freshman infielder Stephanie Texeira’s first week as a Panther resulted in the honor of Conference USA’s player of the week.
“When the media relations assistant told me, I couldn’t believe it, I was like wait, ‘the conference player of FIU?’ And she’s like ‘no of Conference USA,’” Texeira said. “As soon as I walked out of the office, I called my parents to give them the news.”
Texeira has been playing softball since the age of 9. Her journey started at Tamiami Park and by the age of 11, she was already playing on a travel ball league. She was an all-star at her high school, Gulliver Preparatory, and made the All-Dade first team for three consecutive seasons.
Being just a freshman at FIU, her favorite memory comes from her last at bat as a high school senior. It was the state championship game and her last time in the batters box resulted in what would eventually be the game winning home run.
That same home run also tied the record for most homeruns in a season, across the United States.
We can thank her brother for instilling the love of softball into Texeira.
“He’s played baseball since he was small and I used to watch his games because Tamiami didn’t have a girls softball league yet,” Texeira said. “I would ask the coach to put me in, but he always said no. As soon as the women’s softball league opened, my mom signed me up and I guess the rest is history.”
Although many of her former colleagues and friends pushed her to leave the state because “good players should go far,” she chose to try and break that stereotype and sign with FIU.
“Miami has talent. I think FIU could be the next school to look at and I want to help make that happen,” Texeira said.
Texeira is helping.
FIU is off to arguably the best start in its 17 year history, as the team is 11-3 with every game played at home in the brand new stadium.
“I really like the stadium because it’s a lot bigger than before and it’s contained,” Texeira said. “It makes it easier to concentrate”
No matter what field Texeira is playing on, she has certain habits before each bat and just recently added a new one thanks to her teammate, Becca.
While she’s in the on deck circle, she watches the pitcher and swings at every other pitch. She tells herself each and every time “have confidence and have faith in your abilities.”
During the Felsberg Memorial Tournament, she had her hair done in a side braid by Becca for every game except the last. The last game was the only time she failed to get a hit, so now for every game Becca has hair duty.
“Good thing she’s my roommate, because now I always have to wear a side braid,” Texeira said.
Aside from her hairdo, each game gives her a new opportunity to focus on becoming a better player and living up to the high expectations set of her.
Texeira hopes one day to make it to the United States Pro team; she’s been dreaming this since she was a little girl.
Ironically, her coach is a former player, and she’s seen firsthand how much time and dedication being a part of the team is. She knows those players are the best of the best and she’s willing to work hard to get there.
Between then and now, she hopes to make “Team 17” the strongest team FIU has seen. The coach gave them that name due to it being season number 17 for FIU Softball.
“It’s Team 17’s year,” Texeira said. “The mentality we have is now or never. We are going to prove everyone wrong and put FIU on the map.”
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