Emily Williams, a transfer student from Morehead State University, is a junior from Louisville, Kentucky. She uses softball as an outlet. It’s where she can let the toughness of the day fade away and focus on the task at hand: taking the Saluki softball team into the regional playoffs and winning another championship. 

Life off the field hasn’t always been easy. In March 2021, Williams’ best friend, Madelynn Troutt, died when a drunk driver hit her head-on. Madelynn had planned on going to Bellarmine University in the fall semester of 2021, and the university dedicated a scholarship for their nursing program with the name “The Madelynn Troutt Memorial Nursing Scholarship” after her passing.

Emily and Madelynn met in high school and immediately hit it off.  

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“She was never a mean-spirited person. She was honestly one of the nicest people I’ve ever met,” Williams said. 

Madelynn had welcomed Emily to sit with her and her friends in a classroom and she was immediately comfortable in her environment, even though she didn’t know anyone in the room.

Williams takes Madelynn everywhere she goes – in the form of her favorite flower, a sunflower she wears in her hair during every game. She had her room and car covered with sunflower decor. She has also planted sunflowers in her backyard back home. 

“To have a person who embodies her favorite thing so much is just wild. She was just a ray of sunshine and such a light in everyone’s life”, Williams said. 

Emily takes the sunflower hair tie to the line in the field before every game and prays, and before the spring season opener, she gifted all of her team the same hair tie. 

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