Saint Mary's University of Minnesota Athletics

Julie Bartosz:
When we heard Julie was interested in Saint Mary’s we sent two of our current players who live in Illinois to go watch her play a high school game in early May.
It didn’t take long for the texts to come flooding in.
“She throws harder than anyone on our team right now!”
“She’s great at blocking and framing! And we heard she is awesome in the outfield too.”
“We want her on our team next year!”
“We have to get her!”
Four days later she confirmed to SMU to play both softball and hockey. We knew we were getting a great player.
There’s no doubt Julie has the best arm on the team and has made some huge plays both in the outfield and behind the plate for us. It has come to the point where we hope opposing baserunners will try to take extra bases against us because our outfielders have such strong arms. We’ve got a lot of outs that way and a lot of them have been from Julie.
Another strength Julie has brought to the team is her vocal leadership and her ability to be a team player. She’s always encouraging her team from the outfield and makes sure the pitcher knows she’s there (“Throw ‘em your heater!”)
She’s always leading cheers from the dugout and goes out of her way to support pinch hitters and players not in the game.
Perhaps our favorite thing about Julie is the student she is off the softball field. We’ve had several professors tell us that Julie is one of their top students. She works extremely hard in the classroom and has been involved in countless extracurricular activities on campus.
There’s no doubt she will be missed next year in all of those activities and especially by her Cardinal Fastpitch family!

Hailey Ohl:
When we were recruiting Hailey she seemed too good to be true.
She played well every time we saw her, she was so polite and sweet every time we talked to her on the phone, the admissions staff loved her and her high school coaches couldn’t find a bad thing to say about her.
We quickly learned that Hailey was the real deal.
Hailey has been an outstanding leader and one of the hardest working players we’ve coached over the last four years. She goes the extra mile to work on her game. She does whatever it takes to perform her best.
When she had a very limited role her freshman year she put in the extra time to work on her game and make herself a left-handed slapper. When we had injuries at the pitching position this year she offered to help in that area. When a new player joins our team she takes it upon herself to make them feel welcome. When a recruit comes to campus she goes out of her way to show them how awesome Saint Mary’s is.
We will definitely miss Hailey on the field. She’s made some amazing plays and has had some very big hits for us. But we’ll also miss her off the field and will miss all the little stuff she does for the program that often go unnoticed.
Hailey is a perfect role model of what we’d like all our future SMU softball players to be. We’re excited to see what her future holds.

Kayla Peterson:
There’s no doubt Kayla has been the workhouse and MVP of our team the last two years. Because of injuries to other pitchers, Kayla has had to shoulder the majority of our pitching duties. Our team knows she has been a huge factor to our success over the years.
Perhaps the best part of that has been her attitude. She never complains. She never talks about if she’s sore or if she’s hurting. She just goes out and does her job each and every day — whether it is throwing batting practice in early February or being asked to pitch both games of a doubleheader in April. For the coaches it is a huge relief knowing that we can count on her.
It’s been fun to watch Kayla mature over the years. When we first talked with her she had no idea what she wanted to do with her life or where she wanted to go to college. Over the last four years she has really learned a lot about herself and become so much more confident. She’s held down a full-time job while also balancing softball, schoolwork and time with friends and family. She’s excited for her future and we are excited for her.
Kayla’s hard work and dedication will definitely be missed next year and we hope that future Cardinal pitchers will follow in her footsteps.

Anna Ramboldt:
We knew when Anna confirmed she was transferring to SMU that our team was instantly better. We couldn’t wait to see Anna in a Cardinal uniform and pencil her into our lineup.
When Anna is at the plate there’s always a chance something big will happen. She’s such an amazing threat offensively. She’s got an incredible swing and has the ability to create opportunities. When the game is on the line and we need something to happen, we are confident with Anna at the plate. And she’s come through with some big, game-changing hits for us.
Defensively she’s done a great job of trying to help the team wherever she can. During her college softball career she’s been shuffled around to almost every infield position. We know that she’ll do her best wherever we put her and has worked hard to get comfortable at each position.
Perhaps two of the best things she offers the Cardinals is her love for the game and her ability to remember that it is just a game. She does a great job of keeping practices upbeat and fun. She has a great sense of humor and always seems to be laughing about something.
Anna is an amazing teammate and a very loyal person. She’ll do anything to help her family and friends.
We are very happy Anna chose to finish her education and softball career at SMU and have enjoyed every minute we’ve coached her. We wish her nothing but the best.

Paige Carter:
It’s not very often that you can find a player that can be one of your best offensive players, one of your best defensive players and one of your best leaders — Paige is the complete package.
Offensively she’s been a mainstay in the meat of our lineup for all four years. She’s come through with some very big hits over the years and has knocked in a lot of crucial runs. When the game is on the line, we want Paige at the plate.
Defensively she’s rock solid in the outfield. She’s got incredible range and a very strong arm to go with it. She makes her presence known in the outfield.
She’s also been the ultimate team player by helping out the team on the pitching mound. Even though she’d always pick playing in the outfield over time in the circle, she has done her best to make the team successful by logging innings on the mound. The truth is that she’s so talented that we can put her anywhere on the field and she’ll be successful.
There’s no doubt her success will continue after SMU. She’s a great student and a very talented leader. She works hard and expects others around her to work just as hard. She does a lot of the little things behind the scenes to make the team better.
It will be extremely hard to replace Paige and what she does for this team both on and off the field.