Caity Healy | Editor-in-Chief

This spring, Haley Fabian, a senior business major, took her final year at Western as an opportunity to prove herself on the field as a fierce competitor. She earned First Team All-GNAC accolades, and she was a D2CCA All-West Region Second Team member; on top of this, she set a Western all-time career record for most wins this season, and as the season came to a close, she was tied for No. 2 in the GNAC with a 2.55 earned-run average. As an athlete, she was a force to be reckoned with.

“Being the furthest that our softball program has gone… I think that’s a really cool way to end your senior year, Fabian said. “I’m really proud of it, and I feel like I can leave happy.”

Her experience with softball dates all the way back to when she was 8 years old, when she grew up in Wenatchee, Washington. At the time, her sister was playing both softball and basketball, and Fabian knew she wanted to follow in her footsteps. So, she began the sport that she’d eventually excel in.

Living in Wenatchee, a town that she described to be known for its agriculture, Fabian always had something to do.

“I played sports… I would go boating since the Columbia River goes right through it,” said Fabian. “I’d go hiking a lot over there.”

Being known for her immense skill on the softball field as a pitcher, I was intrigued by the fact that she mentioned playing multiple sports, rather than just the one she broke records in this season.

“I played basketball up until the end of my sophomore year of high school, but then I just stuck to softball,” Fabian explained. “I loved softball more than I liked basketball. And softball is kind of like a year-round commitment, so I was doing that year-round… travelling.”

When it came time to begin looking at colleges her junior year of high school, Fabian was attending a camp on Western’s campus when she became enamored by it.

“I did a camp here for softball,” said Fabian. “I kind of heard about the program — I heard about Coach Sarge — so I came to the camp and I loved the campus. I did a tour and I knew I wanted to come here.”

Though she’s been playing softball for the majority of her life, there was never a single point where she considered taking a break or leaving.

“This was the only sport where I was like, ‘this is the one I’m going to stick with forever,’” Fabian said. And by sticking with it, she explained that it had taught her a lot of life skills.

“I feel like it taught me to handle different situations,” she said. “It also taught me to not take life so serious, too. Even though it’s just a game, you create memories and friendships … it taught me to cherish those teammates that I have and the friendships I have with them.”

Now that the season as wrapped up, finding time for herself is something Fabian isn’t entirely used to. But, there are some go-to activities that she enjoys now that she does have some extra time.

“I like to be with my family and my friends — especially my family. I like to travel with them and go visit them wherever they are,” Fabian explained. As for time with her friends, she noted that they often take a day to go to the beach, or explore around Salem or Corvallis when they get the chance.

With her business degree, Fabian hopes to pursue a career that, in some way, involves her love for clothing.

“I like clothes,” said Fabian. “Especially athletic clothing. So if it could be with Nike or Lulu Lemons or Adidas or something like that … creating a product would be really cool.”

Before she was a business major, though, her dream careers looked a little bit different.

“I wanted to be a teacher. I think every kid wanted to be a teacher,” Fabian mentioned. “And then there was a point where I wanted to be a dental hygienist.” But ultimately, she chose business because, as she said, “a lot of schools have it and I feel like there’s a lot I can do with it.”

As for her future, Fabian knows she will be continuing with softball being a part of her life in some way as she moves to Coos Bay, Oregon.

“I have actually talked to the softball coach at (a community college) there and I’m hoping to … be an assistant coach,” she explained. “So we’ll see — I definitely plan on staying with the sport as of right now.”

Contact the author at howleditor@wou.edu

Photo by Paul F. Davis