The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/152358
where are they now? it should have from national pundits. Hutchins coached them to play with a chip on their shoulder and to focus on every game, Findlay recalled. "The program I grew up in and the way my dad had instilled such an attitude — he used to tell us when we were younger because our teams always played with older girls that it doesn't matter what your age is, it's what you do on the field," she said. "I took that attitude when I was a freshman. "The other thing was we had a very good senior class that year. [Senior] Jessica Merchant was a best friend. She made me feel comfortable, like I was really part of the team and not just a freshman. That's one of the things I hopefully carried with me when I was a senior and hopefully they're still carrying that over tradition-wise. The way you win and compete for a championship, everyone is on the same page and fishing for one thing — competing for a championship. That helped me be comfortable and play ball the way I knew I could." She did it for four years, rewriting the Michigan record books. She earned first-team All-America honors in 2008 and set Michigan career records for home runs (62), RBI (219) and slugging percentage (.677). The Wolverines, though, would not return to the World Series in the next three years, falling short in the Super Regionals each time. That made the 2005 run all the more special. "It's not easy. It's a grind," Findlay said. "We came up short every year we lost in the Super Regionals, but that's what you fight for. You can't ever take any game for granted. Every game, every pitch counts, but I learned to grow as a player." Findlay continued to evolve in the years following. She played professional softball as a first baseman for the Chicago Bandits in the National Pro Fastpitch league, followed by a summer with the USSSA Pride. She announced her retirement in February 2012, but was training for a comeback this year, five days a week, before finding out she was expecting her first child with fiancé Louis Barak. That also changed the course of her career off the field. In 2008, Findlay joined the DePaul softball coaching staff as a volunteer coach. She was hired as DePaul's director of softball operations in 2010 and named an assistant coach at DePaul in September 2011. She's also earning her master's degree at DePaul in secondary education, one she'll receive when she's done with her student teaching. Findlay is now working with former softball standout and coach Venus Taylor at Bo Jackson's Elite Sports, an indoor facility in her hometown of Lockport, starting a program for girls 14 to 18 interested in softball. Taylor approached Findlay, her sister (former Wolverine Angela) and her father to help get it off the ground. "We want to get it going in the right direction so other girls got the same opportunities my sister and I