For years, softball players have been told to play travel ball, write to coaches and to attend camps and exposure tournaments. That is how they will be recruited. Sheridan Allen did the exact opposite and is now a junior college transfer at the University of Tennessee.
Allen attended Beech High School in Hendersonville, Tenn. During her freshman year, she decided softball wasn’t her sport.
Photo courtesy of Tennessee Athletics
“I was burnt out on softball and found a new love for basketball, so I decided it was best for me to just play basketball and enjoy doing what I love,” said Allen. “After the first half of Beech High School’s softball season, they had a couple girls quit and needed additional players… So I decided to be their designated pinch runner, which led me back to my love for the game of softball.”
She joined the team mid-season and won a State Championship. The following year, with the help of a new coach, Allen gained her confidence to start becoming an everyday player.
“I remember putting her in J.V. game (sophomore year) and there was a routine pop fly hit to her and she missed it,” said her former coach, Erica Powell. “I got so nervous and thought she can’t even catch a fly ball but it turns out she was nervous. She was so fast but her hitting wasn’t that great. She was in 10th grade and had never hit left-handed before but I just decided to flip her.”
That flip officially happened at the start of her junior year and changed Allen’s whole course. She won every award possible over the next two years including All-State and Sumner County Player of the Year.
Allen batted over .400 both years as a starter and stole a total of 80 bases. She decided just before graduation that she would continue playing softball at Volunteer State Community College in Gallatin, Tenn. For two seasons, she led the Lady Pioneers in hits, runs, walks and stolen bases (115 out of 118).
“The Vol State coaches brought her to our attention and spoke very highly of her and her desire to go on and compete at the four-year Division I level,” said UT Co-Head Coach Karen Weekly.
Just like Powell, Weekly recognized her speed.
“She’s going to bring a lot to our team being speed off the bench. That’s something that our team was drastically missing last year,” said Weekly. “We didn’t have runners that we could bring into the game to steal a base, score a key run or even if we needed someone to ignite an inning at the plate with the slap game.”
Allen is studying Marketing with a Supply Chain Management Collateral. She said the adjustment from JUCO to SEC has been different but she has learned to manage her time with the help of the resources provided on campus.
All of this happened without playing travel ball.
“All I can say was God had a plan for me and laid amazing opportunities in front of me and I decided to take them. God writes your perfect story and all of this happening was glory to Him,” said Allen. “My story is hard to explain because I never went out of my way to get noticed by coaches. God just put special people in my life that had the best intentions for me to help me succeed.”
