Saluki softball’s Emma Austin is, quite simply, confident. 

Head coach Jen Sewell even thinks it is one of Austin’s best traits. 

“Emma is 100% a big personality, but in such a good way. Looking from the outside, it comes off like a diva, but it’s not like that at all. It’s a kind, mature, confident human being who likes to take her teammates with her,” Sewell said. 

Austin, who is known for wearing pearls while on the field, didn’t always exude the diva energy though, especially when she was a little kid and hanging around with her brother’s baseball team.

“I was always the little sister that was in the dugout, that was wanting to dress like them. Such a big tomboy, and so whenever I was old enough and I figured out that was the thing to play, I was pretty much on it,” Austin said. 

Austin was initially a gymnast as a child, but recognized that she wanted to play softball when she saw how it united her family.

“It brought my family together. We always had something to do in the summer, we always had a place to travel to. We had so many friends, so many people that we met through it,” Austin said. 

Austin, who is from Brookport, Illinois, and went to Massac County High School,  didn’t travel far to go to school — just an hour northwest.

“I originally did not think that I wanted to go so close to home,” Austin said. “And I honestly had not heard much of SIU. Obviously I’m from around here, but never heard of the school, never really heard of the softball.”

Austin was eventually informed of how good Saluki softball was, and after she came on a visit realized that “it was just so ideal for me and checked all the boxes.”

While her mind was changed about going to school close to home, her approach to the game was not. Austin honed in on the things she was good at, harnessing her elite speed and embracing a different type of approach in the batters box: slap hitting, which both her dad and a former coach, Terry Pierce, convinced her to do.

“(Slap hitting) was such a skill that you don’t understand it until you do, and it’s not going to feel good until it does. So once slapping finally clicked for me when I was younger, I was like, ‘Oh my God, this is awesome,’” Austin said.

While Austin is a smaller player, standing at only 5-foot-2, don’t assume that she slap hits only because she doesn’t have the size to hit for power.

“I don’t think everyone realizes she is a beast in the weight room, so her actual strength is off the charts,” Sewell said. “Pound for pound she is one of the strongest players I’ve ever coached.”

As Austin, a center fielder, has developed her physical approach to the game, her ability to make in-game changes, including to her batting, has evolved, too.

“This year, she has really made her adjustments super quick,” junior shortstop Jackie Lis said. “That’s kind of why I think she’s had a lot more success, because she’s adjusted a lot faster than in previous years.”

A final part of Austin that has changed as time has gone on? Her leadership.

“With having a lot of younger people this year, she has kind of gotten a little bit more serious… she’s definitely taken more of a leadership role,” Lis said. 

“For our team, she really is a mom — she hugs and encourages but she also delivers the truth and has hard conversations with her teammates and her coaches,” Sewell said.

Though their record certainly doesn’t show it now, the Salukis started the year 2-13, and during that time, Austin was struggling at the plate. But once she woke up, the rest of the Dawgs did, too, and they haven’t looked back. 

“She is a true spark plug — in personality and to the lineup card,” Sewell said. “If she’s on base, then we are rocking and rolling as an offense. And the catches she makes in the outfield she makes look easy — those are not easy, she’s making them look that way. If you are pitching, you want to turn around and see Emma behind you. She’s going to get there.”

Austin is always back in center field, having started 148 games and counting, though she’s doing more in the outfield than just playing outstanding defense. 

Lis said, “She’s always going to lighten the mood and have fun with it. And that is something you don’t always see in softball. It’s also fun to just watch her in center field in the middle of the game, just doing a dance out in the outfield, and I’m just laughing… but that’s just how she is all the time, and it’s always entertaining.”

Austin doesn’t shy away from drawing attention either, even saying that she’s trying to prove a point.  

“I’ve worn the pearls, I’ve worn the hoop earrings, I’ll make sure my hair looks good and my makeup looks good… I just want to leave the impression that seriously, anybody can do it, no matter the body type, height, stature, build you are, whether you’re a girly girl, anything. Anyone can do it,” Austin said. 

Austin’s approach to her appearance and the game often draws admirers who want to emulate and watch her.

“I’ve had girls that come and watch me and their parents are like, ‘Oh my gosh, she remembered when you had the pearls on and she remembers when your hair was done all cute, and she’s wanted to watch you ever since,’’’ Austin said. “And as little as that may sound, I think that’s just kind of what I want to be remembered for, just keeping it fun, keeping it lighthearted, being who you are out there.”

Sewell knows that Austin — who gives lessons to these admirers and many others — and her style naturally lend themselves to her being a role model, too.

“She teaches little girls that are watching that it’s OK to be yourself and to shine and have confidence. She’s a big-time personality and athlete in a little package, so for all the girls out there playing sports that have been told they are too small, Emma is a great example for them,” Sewell said. 

Austin’s talent and accomplishments, including being a two-time All-MVC Second Teamer, have led Sewell to give her some lofty praise when talking about her legacy as a player.

“She is and will be forever one of the best center fielders SIU softball has had, and there are a lot of great outfielders that have come through this program. Every team needs an Emma Austin,” Sewell said. 

Sports reporter Ryan Grieser can be reached at [email protected]. To stay up to date on all your southern Illinois news, be sure to follow The Daily Egyptian on Facebook.

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