Besides using her passion for softball to fuel the drive she needs to advance her game, Athlete of the Week Caitlin Voss has a motto to help keep her on track: Handle it.
“Whatever it is in life, just handle it,” Voss said. “If something is due in class, just handle it. If you need something, handle it. Don’t ask somebody, don’t complain, just handle it.”
Those words constantly echo in the girls’ locker room from Allan Hancock College softball coach Scia Maumausolo. Voss said she’s taken her coach’s advice to heart, and if her recent accomplishments are any indication, she’s clearly been practicing what she preaches.
This past season was the best all-around of her career. Voss, the Bulldogs’ catcher, caught all 39 games and had more homeruns, RBIs, stolen bases, and doubles than she’s ever had before.
While Voss is finished at Hancock, she won’t be hanging up her glove anytime soon. She’ll be playing for UC Davis on a full-ride scholarship starting this fall. She nearly passed up the precious opportunity, but destiny had other ideas.
When one of her Hancock coaches approached her about the prospect of playing at Davis, Voss immediately rejected the idea. The same day, there was a college fair at the Hancock student center, attended by representatives from the school. After talking to them and realizing the university offered her major, Voss went back to tell her coaches about her change of heart.
UC Davis won’t be the first university Voss has attended. Right out of high school, she went to Cal State Northridge, but didn’t play softball due to a partially torn labrum and frayed rotator cuff. It didn’t take long for her to realize Northridge wasn’t a good fit, and neither was life without softball, so she moved back home to undergo shoulder surgery. Six months later, she was back behind home plate. Since her surgery, she feels she’s improved both mentally and physically.
“When you’re playing a sport, you just have to know that you’re going to be good at it, you can’t doubt yourself. I’ve learned that in the past couple of years and it’s made me 10 times better than when I was in high school,” Voss said.
Voss will be majoring in human development, with a minor in education, and plans to get a master’s degree to pursue her goal of teaching and coaching at the collegiate level.
“I’ve put in a lot of hard work and I think it shows. I’ve been really blessed with good coaches, especially with Scia and our assistant coaches,” she said. “My mentality is that nothing is going to stop me.”
This article appears in May 17-24, 2012.