Two days ago we did a write-up on Riley Gregoire, a 2015 second baseman, outfielder from Bainbridge, Wash. who committed to Oregon State.

Here, in her own words, is how the recruiting process went from beginning to commitment and what’s interesting is she wasn’t always sure if softball would be the sport she’d be playing at the next level… read on for her explanation! 

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I am very excited to finally know what sport and where I will be playing next year!

The process was a bit challenging for me because I play two sports at a competitive level. I also play soccer for Harbor FC and was on Washington’s state ODP team.

Although I was getting interest from schools for both soccer and softball,l I started the process a little late—the summer between my sophomore and junior year. So my process included not only softball, but also soccer, which is tough when both of your travel teams play nationally.

I spent the last two summers playing in a lot of the big showcase tournaments, participating in Prospect Camps and visiting colleges for both soccer and softball, sometimes never even coming home to unpack between sports!

I was mostly looking at colleges on the East Coast, when my parents thought I should attend the Oregon State Soccer Prospect Camp in January 2014 since I was not considering any schools on the West Coast.

When I attended the camp, I really liked the campus and the coaches and they liked me, apparently. After that, they came to watch me in a couple of my tournaments in Washington and Las Vegas and invited me back for visit in March.

After a day of touring the campus and seeing all the facilities I knew it was the place for me.

After my visit to OSU in March I told my Team Seattle softball coaches, Shawna Wright and Taylor Smith, that I was really excited about the possibility of being a Pac-12 student-athlete playing soccer at OSU.

Since I didn’t have an offer yet from soccer, they decided to call the softball coaches to see if they may want to meet with me.  Coach Shawna and Coach Taylor had both played for OSU’s Assistant Coach Geoff Hirai when they were at the University of Washington.

In June, once the season started, Coach Hirai came to see me play in the Valley Invite and the Colorado Fireworks tournaments. I also attended the Softball Prospect Clinic where I briefly met with the head coach, Laura Berg. Every time I went back to campus I felt more and more this was the place for me. I also have two cousins that go to school there now and many aunts and uncles that are alumni.

In July. I was still in conversations with the OSU soccer team and I was planning on attending a final soccer recruit camp at the end of the month.

Unfortunately, on July 5th I tore my MCL at the PAC NW Soccer Prospect Camp and I had to miss the OSU soccer camp and focus on PT and rehab of my knee.

Because of my injury, I was also unable to participate with my softball team at the PGF Nationals, where I had coaches coming to watch me play. It was very stressful and sad for me because I had worked so hard to get to that point and I was in my last summer of recruiting.

Although I had other opportunities for both soccer and softball, I really wanted to attend OSU after graduation.

After PGF Nationals I got a call from my coach, Shawna and she said I was being invited to a small Recruit Camp for the OSU softball team and she wanted to know what progress I made with my knee injury.

The Recruit Camp was August 31st and I had been working really hard rehabbing my knee and trying to stay fit in the gym. On the day of the Recruit Camp I felt about 85 percent back but I was determined to earn a spot with the team.

I had a great workout with the current verbally committed players and at the end of the camp, Coach Laura Berg and Coach Hirai said I did very well and asked if I wanted to play for OSU.

I said “Yes!”

— Riley Gregoire