The Rapid City Stevens softball team is wearing special wristbands this season to honor a teammate who lost her life last August. Sarah Erickson, who played last year on the Raiders squad as a freshman, passed away after a tragic accident just before the start of her sophomore school year this fall.
Sarah would become a focal point for this year’s squad.
This season, after a lot of thought put into it, we decided our motto this year would be ‘I Play For Her.’ Now that motto means a lot to us,” explained Stevens head softball coach Sherry Grismer. “It means we’re playing this season for Sarah but as well as Sarah, we’re also playing for our alumni, players that came before us. We’re playing for our parents, our mothers, our grandparents, our teammates, just so many ways that our motto can be incorporated into our daily lives. But most importantly we are playing this season for Sarah.”
After the motto was established, the season began. During one of Stevens home games against Rapid City Central, they held a theme night to honor Sarah as well.
“We had [Sarah’s] parents come to the game,” said Coach Grismer. “The wristbands were actually provided by Sarah’s parents for us, so we passed out the wristbands to all of our players. Rapid City Central high school, which is our rival team, they wore them too.”
Sarah’s loss was a tragedy, and it left a big void in a lot of hearts at Stevens high school and Rapid City.
Coach Grismer mentioned a positive aspect of this unfortunate event.
“It really brought our team together in so many ways, as you can imagine,” Grismer exclaimed. “She was a wonderful young lady with a lot of joy in her heart. Just a special kid.”
The special bond amongst this year’s Stevens squad extends outside of the roster. The coaching staff feels they’re closer to the players as well.
“All of our coaches are all former athletes, and we have a lot of conversations amongst us as to what we remember as athletes. It comes down to not the wins, not the losses, we might remember a little about each game, but it really comes down to what do we remember when we played,” said Grismer. “A lot of it is team building stuff. A lot of it is conversations that you’ve had with other people, people who have mentored you in your life. I believe when coaches can connect with players, not just with the sport, but just have a connection with them, having fun with them, being silly with them.”
At the state tournament this week, the Stevens squad is having fun. There’s a lot of positivity in the dugout, there are smiles on the kids' faces, and on each wrist is a symbol of something much bigger than the game of softball.
“The wristbands are something that is just a daily reminder to us that our life is special, and we never want to take anything for granted. Softball is more than just a game. We only get to live this life for so long and we need to be thankful when we make it to the state tournament, when we make an at bat, when we get to hang out with our friends in the hotel room,” explained Coach Grismer. “Life is just too short, and too important, and we have one teammate that is missing that we would love to have here with us. We have tomorrow. We get to do this again. Unlike Sarah, we get to do this again, so let’s enjoy it while we can.”
Rapid City Stevens is set to play in the consolation championship at the ‘AA’ tournament on Saturday against Brandon Valley at 12:30 pm CT.
