John C. Maxwell said, “A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.”
When examining Volts veteran, Sierra Romero, she has gone the way, shown the way, and now knows the way through the pro softball sphere. A true leader by example, the 2016 National Player of the Year has helped the younger players on the roster learn and grow through the way she approaches her training, her game, and her everyday life.
Romero carried her grit and hard work into the many different locker rooms she’s stepped into. However, it was amplified a few years ago when she was unsure if she would ever step between the white chalk lines again.
While playing with the USSSA Pride in the now-defunct National Pro Fastpitch League, Romero tore her medial meniscus, ACL and lateral meniscus. At the time, she was on a high in her professional career, hitting well and playing solid defense – everything was clicking. It was an injury that was supposed to keep her out for one year and instead, kept her out for three.
“One of the things that was the hardest to come to terms with was ‘Did I do something wrong?’” Romero said.
Her internal thoughts swirled with questions like, Was I not in shape? Did I not stretch enough? What did I do wrong for this to happen?’
And they didn’t stop there. The longer she was away from the game, the thoughts continued to mount with harrowing questions like, Should I just be done? Is it worth trying to come back? Should I retire?
“It was just a lot mentally,” she said. “Trying to figure out how to push past that and how to recognize that this might just be what my knee feels like now. I had to kind of come to terms with it and just accept the fact that I’m not gonna feel how I felt before, after an injury like that.”
But even when she accepted that, she knew she had more to give. The grit, passion, and pure resilience pushed her through.
“I didn’t want the injury to be what took me out. I really wanted to go out feeling like I was good with where I was at.”
Another factor that helped propel the former Michigan standout was the hope that one day there would be a form of professional softball where people truly invested in the sport. Packed crowds, robust media coverage, and excitement that matched college softball.
“I was not happy with where pro softball was at the time of my injury,” Romero said. “So for me it was just about wanting to make sure that I felt good about where the sport was because, whenever I walk away, I wanted to feel at peace with it.”
A few years later, after intense therapy, proper nutrition, and an incredible amount of determination, Romero has been able to play in the league she hoped one day would exist for the sport she loves so dearly.
“Why I love softball so much is the team part of it, so I was really excited to get back to that,” the Michigan alum said in regards to the AUSL.
It has offered the opportunity to expand her own game, but also to pass it along to the players who are younger than her.
“I hold myself to a high standard. I’m not going to get on you unless it’s needed and I’m always going to be that example on how to do things the right way, be a good person and the things that come with being a pro.”
If you speak to the younger players and rookies, they always comment on the way that she carries herself and how she has helped them become better players.
“It’s hard to describe her presence because it’s unlike anything I’ve ever been around,” rookie Danieca Coffey said. “The way she approaches the game is not, ‘I’m failing,’ but rather moving forward from the mistakes. It’s something I’ve really enjoyed being around.”
Romero has helped grow the game of softball as a player by the things she does physically on the field. She has helped grow it by being a part of all of the different professional softball leagues before finally arriving at AUSL. And the veteran continues to grow the game by mentoring younger athletes.
“I’m proud as a softball player,” she said. “I’m proud as one of the vets to see where it’s at now because this is always what I knew it could do. I knew that this was possible. I was just hoping and praying that I would get to be a part of it.”
She got to be a part of it and will continue to be a part of it, all because she never gave up on herself. There are very few people who can know the way and have gone the way in pro softball. As the AUSL embarks on what is hopefully the last “first” for the sport, it needs veterans like Romero who show the way
Maria Trivelpiece is currently the Director of Video Communications and Reporter at the American Athletic Conference and a softball color analyst. Trivelpiece was an outfielder at Fordham University and still stays involved with the game through coaching and covering the sport. You can follow her on X M_Trivelpiece or Instagram @_mariatrivelpiece
