Sydney Supple from Oshkosh, Wisc. is one of the top 2019 players in the country and last year committed to Northwestern when she was just 13 years old. The tall lefty, who is also a standout hitter, will start her freshman year at Oshkosh North High School this fall, but currently is playing with the Beverly Bandits Premier 14U team which will compete at the PGF Nationals this week.

Here’s a profile we did on her last November.

In today’s blog, Sydney talks about her preparations for what she hopes will be a run towards a PGF National Championship!

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This week leading up to the PGF Nationals has been one to prepare your body, hone in your skills, and most importantly mentally prepare yourself.

As a team, to prepare ourselves we played against our older Bandits 16U Premier team which, a few weeks prior, became the Colorado Boulder IDT champs.

That is one of the incredible parts of being a Bandit—you get to practice with and scrimmage against other Bandit teams facing some of the greatest competition in the country!

When it comes to Nationals, we will face top caliber teams but from all of our preparations, I have no doubt we will be able to compete with every team out there.

Individually, to practice and improve my game, I specifically picked one thing every day to master.

One day, my Dad (my long time catcher!) and I went into into our backyard where we have a pitching mound and I threw all change ups to him. It was all about working on my technique, spin, spot, and speed to improve that one pitch.

Also I did my daily workout at my nearby gym, Jet Functional Fitness, which I believe has been a big factor in setting my game apart.

The most important part of the game, in my opinion,is the mental side! That has been, and still is, my main focus.

Last year in my first year with the Bandits, I competed in the 12U Nationals in Huntington where we got knocked out in a heartbreaking loss 1-0 to the Batbusters.

I wrote about my feelings at the time, the pain I felt seeing my teammates cry. That has been my motivator all year and as I read it for a final time I am determined that this year the only tears my team will shed is tears of joy.

Each tournament I put a quote on my softball bag, and live by it. This year my final quote for the last tournament of the season is “Give your team the gift of everything you have!”

That is a promise to my team I am making and one I plan on keeping every time I step on the field.

It’s all about competing to be a National Champion!