Washington County Enterprise-Leader
All-star Sisemore
CONWAY — All- Star week began Tuesday, June 24, at the University of Central Arkansas Campus at Conway with softball at Farris Field with Oakley Sisemore, of Farmington, playing for the West.
For Oakley the excitement was all about being able to play with other people she hadn’t played with before and to win.
“It’s just exciting to see how people you haven’t played with before can come together and win,” Oakley said. “We had two practices together. It was really cool to see how everyone without knowing everyone before could come together and click. It showed how we had really good team chemistry and we could come together.”
Oakley lauded the West All-Stars for being unselfish, team- first players although she downplayed her personal contributions to a West, 4-1, 3-1, sweep of the doubleheader saying she made routine plays in the field, got a hit, got on base, and did what was expected.
“It was really special to be able to just represent my small town [ Farmington]. There were just three from northwest Arkansas, that was about it. It was cool to represent northwest Arkansas at the All-Star game.”
Oakley struck up a friendship with a future teammate, who has also signed to play Division I women’s college softball at the University of Arkansas and enjoyed meeting people she actually played against before.
“To hear their perspective, it’s actually a little different mindset playing with them than playing against them.”
Oakley also was pleased with the support of her parents, John and Lori Sisemore, and younger sisters, Saylor and Siana, who drove to Conway for the games.
“It just kind of made it more comfortable and made it feel like more of a normal game,” Oakley said.
Her father John Sisemore realized a certain amount of satisfaction in witnessing the culmination of Oakley’s four very productive high school years playing softball.
“I’m very proud to see kind of the finalization of a good, long, hard-working career,” John Sisemore said. “I remember when she started when she was eight years old and to get to play with the best players in all of Arkansas made us all proud.”