As she awaits to see if she and her teammates at Daviess County have a season this spring, Lady Panther standout Abby Newman put pen to paper Wednesday as she signed her National Letter of Intent to continue her athletic and academic career at Western Kentucky University.
Newman signed her LOI in front of friends and family at her home Wednesday but when it became official, the DC senior said a weight was lifted.
“It’s honestly such a relief,” she said. “It took so much pressure off my shoulders because I honestly thought the recruiting process was hard and then the new rule change came out that you had to wait until your junior year to commit. I was always so anxious just to get there, for this time to come. It was such a relief, it feels great.”
The Hilltoppers invited Newman for a visit just over a year ago and they offered her during her trip south to Bowling Green.
Despite the offer, she was still concerned about the process given her junior campaign didn’t happen.
“It stressed me out because that’s almost a whole season I’m missing out on to get better,” she said. “I’m not going to have these reps. Honestly, it was a motivational thing as well. Me and my sister, and my cousin, we all play softball at Daviess County and we worked out every day during quarantine, out in our backyard or we’d go to an open field … I started working harder to catch back up.”
Newman said she was grateful the Hilltoppers kept their faith in her.
“They’ve always been a really comforting and welcoming community,” she said. “I love their coaches. They stayed in contact with me all through quarantine. Seeing how I was going, seeing what I was doing. It was great.”
Other schools were vying for the services of Newman next year but when she went to a camp in BG, the coaches gave her a feeling none of the others did.
“During the recruiting process, I went to many different school camps,” she said. “At each camp you get to tour at the end of the camp and I loved the campus. The biggest thing for me was when I went to the camps, the coaches were so involved in what we were doing and they were so welcoming, so encouraging. Usually I’m nervous at camps but there, I felt so welcomed. It was great. It was the best atmosphere ever.”
The trip from DCHS to the WKU Softball Complex is just 67 miles.
For Newman, her family being able to see her play a few more years really helped her decision.
“That was one of the biggest factors when I was deciding on which school I wanted to go to,” she said. “When I was younger, I wanted to go to all these schools but as I got older, I really wanted to stay in state, close to home, for that reason. They can come watch me. If anything happens, it’s only an hour away. I could get home and back in one day. I loved that part.”
Newman won’t go into the Hilltopper program alone next season as she’ll also have former Lady Panther Maddie Bowlds on the roster as well. Along with Bowlds, two of Newman’s travel teammates will be with her in Bowling Green too.
She said she can’t wait to get on the field with them next summer and get ready for the next step in their careers.
“We get to prepare together and we get to talk to each other about what we’re going to do,” she said. “It’s a comforting thing more than anything because I don’t really like change.”
Even though she knows where she’s going to be next, Newman said that doesn’t mean she can stop working.
She said it’s just the opposite.
“Now it’s a just a work harder, get better-type thing,” she said. “I’m not really working toward getting recruited, it’s more like working on yourself, be the best you can be for when you get there. And preparing for this season because this season is going to be so much fun. Hopefully we get to have it.”
While COVID has dominated the headlines for most of the last year, Newman said that will always be the most vivid memory of her high school career but when she thinks of her best memory, she doesn’t have to look far.
“The atmosphere and the community for Daviess County softball is the best you will ever be around,” she said. “They are so encouraging. Practices are always fun. We’re always doing some competitive stuff. It’s one of the best programs I’ve ever been a part of.”
As Newman prepares for her final season at Daviess County and then her future at Western Kentucky, she knows she couldn’t have done it on her own.
“I would not have been able to do it without them,” she said. “They have put so much time and effort. We would fly weekend to weekend to different states to play. They’ve made so many sacrifices and spent so much money. I owe so much to them. It would not be possible without them.”
