Breaking the Mold: Chelsea Thomas

When thinking about top softball recruiting geographic areas across our country, nine out of ten people asked would say that the best talent comes from the West Coast. This assumption can be made because, over the years, most, if not all of the top Division I college softball players and national award winners came from California. That is until you look at the record books and realize the 2013 SEC Pitcher of the Year was a Pleasantville, Iowa native.

Chelsea Thomas broke the mold when she signed with Mizzou in 2008. But she didn’t stop there, she went on to have one of the best pitching careers in Mizzou softball history. Thomas was the first player to be named a three-time First Team All-American, she was recognized as SEC Pitcher of the Year, and two-time Big 12 Pitcher of the Year (Before Missouri joined the SEC). She left Mizzou holding records as the winningest pitcher with 111 and holds the school record for strikeouts with 1,174. She was also part of multiple Women’s College World Series appearances during her collegiate campaign. During the summers of 2011 and 2012, she represented Team USA, an experience that is dreamed of by many.

After her college career came to a close, Chelsea Thomas was drafted into the National Pro Fastpitch League by the USSSA Pride. This past August, she concluded her fourth season in the league. It’s important to learn about her story because it has opened the eyes of college coaches to Midwest talent over the years. Chelsea Thomas did the unthinkable and she is a household name to many. See her story below:

Where did you grow up in Iowa?

Pleasantville, Iowa  (about 1,500 people in my town)

How old were you when you started playing softball? When did you start pitching?

I started playing baseball when I was four in a tee ball league and progressed into softball when the boys and girls split. I started pitching in fourth grade.

Did you work with a pitching instructor growing up?

My dad and I started learning to pitch together from the beginning. In fourth grade, I saw a local community college pitcher that showed us the basics. From there, my dad and I experimented with mechanics and tried to figure out what made sense to us and what best worked for me.  In middle school, I attended Breakthrew Fastpitch Academy for a year and picked up more knowledge about different pitches and drills. This is where I was told for the first time by my instructor that I had the potential to pitch at the Division I level, which was huge for my confidence going into my high school career. After I committed to Mizzou, Coach Earleywine got me in contact with Doug Gillis. He is a pitching genius and he was really the one that took my pitching from good to high-level D1 pitching.

With Iowa high school ball taking place during the summer months, do you feel as though players miss out on recruiting opportunities?

Yes. Iowa High School softball is really competitive, but the exposure to the big softball names is impossible. No college coach is going to invest their time in coming to a high school game to watch one or a few girls when they could go to a select tournament with hundreds of girls to recruit. It is also forcing the girls to make a decision to keep playing high school ball or play on a select team during the summer. But nowadays it is way different than back when I was getting recruited because of how young top level programs are getting verbal commitments. I think there is more pressure now at a younger age to give up on high school/middle school softball and only play select/club softball.

Can you talk about your story getting to Mizzou? What steps did you take? How did you get seen? When did you commit? Etc.

Well, my dad, Rich Thomas, was my high school softball coach. So, he was able to be involved in my recruiting process. I actually made recruiting DVD’s and hand sent them out to surrounding schools I was interested in the summer before my junior year. I did not want to go very far so my list of schools was very small. Coach Earleywine watched my video and said something he saw made him want to know more about me and see me live. He contacted my dad and then drove the four hours from Mizzou to my hometown of Pleasantville, IA to watch one of my high school practices. He watched a bullpen, used the radar gun and observed me throwing and then offered me my scholarship. I ended up going on a visit to see the campus and fell in love with the school and what Coach Earleywine was building there.

Why Mizzou? What sold you?

I wanted to go to a program and make a difference and help make it great and that was something Coach Earlywine sold me on. I ended up going to a few other D1 schools in Iowa for visits but they just did not compare and I knew I would be very happy at Mizzou and getting the opportunity to help build that program. I ask Coach Earleywine still to this day what made him come watch me out of all the other videos he gets from recruits and he always replies, “it was a gut feeling”.  I will be forever grateful to him for taking a chance on a small town girl from Iowa with dreams of playing on the big stage of college softball.

Talk about your experience at Mizzou. What changed from Freshman year to Senior year?

My freshmen year was a blur in my mind. I came to the Division I softball world with only a 70 MPH drop ball. I had some success my freshmen season and my team made it to the WCWS for the first time in a long time in Mizzou Softball history, but my weaknesses were very much identified. I worked my butt off the summer following my freshman year learning a rise ball and changeup. I would drive with my dad once a month to Michigan (nine-hour drive) to work with Doug Gillis to get these pitches down. I would stay there for a week at a time and work camps to pay for my lessons. When I came back my sophomore year, I had an insane start to my sophomore season and Mizzou was No. 2 in the polls for four straight weeks. But, that ended for me as soon as I was diagnosed with a stress fracture in my forearm from learning the rise ball and overthrowing the previous summer. I then red-shirted and did the best I could to get myself in the best shape I could using nutrition. The next two seasons were injury free, I had three really good pitches and we made it to the WCWS and were Big XII Conference Champions.

My senior season, we moved to the SEC. I threw almost every game up until this point in my career and something funky started happening with my arm. All sorts of tests were done and they couldn’t figure out what was wrong with me. My arm would swell and I would lose feeling/grip every time I pitched.  Finally, I was diagnosed with Thoracic Outlet Syndrome (TOS), but by this time I was already halfway through SEC play battling to pitch. It was a really hard senior season for me in battling my injury, both physically and mentally. It ended up being a successful season, but we did not make it back to the WCWS that year. I have a really cool fun fact though from having to red shirt and struggle through with the few injuries: I got to be chosen as the pitcher of the year in two different conferences (Big XII and SEC).

I went on to play pro after my senior season with the USSSA Pride organization. They picked me up knowing about my injury and I ended up throwing very limited innings my rookie season. I went to a specialist as soon as my rookie season was finished and had TOS Surgery in September of 2013, where they removed my first rib on my right side and released both right and left pec muscles.

You are a former member of Team USA Softball. How did this opportunity come about?

After my redshirt sophomore season (2011), I was invited to try out for the USA Team. Like anyone who plays softball, the dream to play for Team USA. So, when I got the email to try out, it felt incredible. I ended up making the team and playing for that year and the following season (2012).

When were you drafted to the NFP? Was this before or after Team USA involvement?

I was drafted during my senior season at Mizzou. I was then currently still part of Team USA. As soon as my college career ended, I was contacted by the USSSA Pride, who offered me a spot on the roster even though they knew of my injury. They offered me a chance at playing professionally and gave me time to figure out my injury during my rookie season. At this time, softball was out of the Olympics and I had an injury that I was told could potentially be career ending. So, I made the best decision for myself at the time.  I chose to play with the USSSA Pride. I went through all the hard phone conversations with my USA head coach and administration and explained that I had to make the best decision for myself at that point in time for my career. I am so happy that there were Team USA girls in the pro league this season.  The brightest future for softball will be a combined effort by the NPF and Team USA working together to build our sport, so I hope this continues.

Looking back on your career, what do you think got you to where you are today?

The gifts I was given from my parents. I get my hard work ethic from my dad and my perfectionist attitude from my mom. I was never coddled growing up as an athlete and I really think that made a huge difference in how I handled failure on and off the softball field. I was taught to see failure as a good thing, a challenge to get better every day, and my parents instilled this in me at a young age. In addition to these gifts, my parents also gifted me with their selflessness. The money and time put in by both of them to do whatever they could to help me succeed were incredible. You don’t realize how lucky you are until you look back on all that was put in and sacrificed to get you there. I was gifted with great parents who gave me the talent genetically and shared their strengths with me to make me the person I am today.

College recruitment is heavy in California and the southern states, do you feel as though Midwest talent is overlooked? Why is that?

Absolutely! The Midwest is a GOLD MINE for softball talent. I think the expenses to get to the heavily recruited areas make up a big part of that. All of the big tournaments are a big financial and time commitment for Midwestern teams.

What advice do you have for young softball players in Iowa who want to be like Chelsea Thomas one day?

I think the biggest piece of advice to give is to not get discouraged if you’re not getting the big D1 offers. Every softball player’s dream is to play for the big name softball schools and the chances of that happening are not very high for most girls playing. There just aren’t enough spots on the rosters. I would encourage to be open to the idea of different levels of play and committing to programs because you love the school or the coaches coaching you, not just because of the name of the school. And whatever level you land in, be the player that does the extra when no one is watching. Be the best teammate on your team. Gain respect from your teammates from the effort you give every day. And every single day you wake up, make it a goal to be better that day than you were the day before. If you do these things, you will not only find success on the softball field but on a personal level with your teammates and off the field when your softball career comes to an end and you enter the real world.

Chelsea Thomas has done the unthinkable over her career. She has broken the mold that the best softball talent comes from the West Coast over that of the Midwest. Because of Chelsea Thomas, college coaches are turning their attention to players in Iowa, and the Midwest in general. Two other Iowa Natives are entering their freshman years at The University of Minnesota this fall, a top 20 team. It’s important to learn about her story because it gives athletes in non-dominant softball areas hope. If a girl from Pleasantville, Iowa can make it to the top in our sport, so can you. You just have to believe it.