World Cup continues
The World Cup of Softball continued at Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City on Thursday. Alissa Dalton and the U.S. Junior Women’s National Team split its two games.
The first day Alissa Dalton arrived at the USA Junior Women’s National Team training camp, she knew that things were different.
She came into the softball camp expecting a high-pressure environment, a cut-throat atmosphere with the best women in college softball pushing each other to get better and vie for a spot on the national team.
Instead, she found herself laughing and talking about snakes with head coach Laura Berg during outfield drills.
“It’s a lot more fun than I thought it would be,” Dalton said after the USA juniors’ 6-5 loss to Australia in the World Cup of Softball on Thursday afternoon. “I was expecting that since USA is such a big name, that everything would be all, ‘You have to do this, you have to do that.’
“It’s more like, ‘You’ve been playing this game your whole life. Just go out there and do your thing and have fun.’”
Playing with the junior team has been calming for the former Oklahoma utility player.
Dalton’s freshman year with Sooners was tumultuous and included multiple absences from the team. By the time the postseason rolled around, Dalton hadn’t been traveling with OU for weeks.
It was a mutual decision, one she and coach Patty Gasso made prior to the series at Texas Tech on April 28.
“We both decided that with the team, the way they were excelling and how it was with me there, we both agreed that it would be best for them if I was not there to travel with them,” Dalton said.
With a week left in the academic year, Dalton approached Gasso. She knew it was time to transfer and start over with a program that was a better fit.
“I was just looking for somewhere you can go out and just be a free spirit and have fun and play the way you play,” she said.
It wasn’t long before Dalton found that at Louisiana-Lafayette, instantly meshing with her new teammates and coach on her visit to Ragin’ Cajun Country.
“I clicked with all the girls,” she said. “And me and the coach, there’s not a minute where we were not laughing. So I was just like, ‘OK, this is my home and this is where I want to be. I think that’s where I’m going to go and be able to reach my full potential as a player.’”
Even though she found a new path, watching the Sooners win the Women’s College World Series was difficult. Instead of standing in the dugout with the team as they won a 17-inning marathon one night and the title the next, Dalton sat in the stands at Hall of Fame Stadium.
“It was heartbreaking, but then again, I did come to the games because they were my friends and they were my sisters all year,” Dalton said. “I was like, if they’re going to go do this and make history, I’m going to be there. I want to watch, I want to support them. I thought it was great for them. I’m really glad that they did it.”
Exactly a month removed from watching OU win the WCWS from the stands, Dalton took the field with the junior national team as a part of the World Cup of Softball.
The distance from the bleachers to Dalton’s spot on the field isn’t all that far, but for Dalton, it represents a huge journey as she works to steer her softball career back on course.
“With everything that happened and growing and having to learn from it, I’ve become a better person,” she said. “I look at life completely differently. I look at the game differently. Just growing off of that, and having that experience under my belt, I can only go up.”