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Contact: Clark Teuscher, Sports Information Director, 630-637-5302
(article posted by Emily Zadny, Student Sports Information Assistant)

May 11, 2015 - Softball has been a major component in North Central College junior Andrea Starr's life starting from a young age. She picked up her first bat and glove when she was six years old and the rest is history.

"I played softball, basketball, soccer, and danced, but I didn't like to run very much and I wasn't the most graceful dancer, so I stuck with softball," said Starr. "I enjoy playing other sports for fun, but softball is the only thing I've ever really been good at, unless you count gym-class dodgeball.  I rock at dodgeball."

Her mother helped coach her team and stayed involved in her daughter's athletic career, something that Starr appreciates to this day.

"My mom is definitely my biggest influence and my role model," she said.  "She drove me to every pitching lesson, practice and game, and became determined to learn as much as she could about the game so that she could practice with me and show me how to get better.  She is truly an inspiration for me and I can honestly say that I would have never pushed myself to become the player that I am today if she had not been by my side through the process."

Starr has proven herself as a force to be reckoned with on the mound. In 2014, she led the team with 71 strikeouts in 37 games and recorded 16 wins. This season, she has appeared in 33 games, starting 25, and posted a 20-7 overall record with 107 strikeouts and six saves. She had a season-high 10 strikeouts in a game against Wisconsin Lutheran College on Apr. 23.

While she and the team are having tremendous success this season, the Elk Grove native clearly remembers where she was two seasons ago and the hard work it took to get where she is now. Fifteen games into her freshman season at North Central College she tore her ACL while pitching a game against Illinois Wesleyan University. She heard a pop, but continued to play through the pain for four more games. When the pain didn't go away, Starr decided to go in for an MRI, only to find out her season was over.

"When I got the news, it was a devastating and scary experience for me," said Starr. "I had never gotten hurt or had any kind of surgery before and this was not a small injury.  It was very hard for me to sit and watch because I wanted to be out there so badly. At the time, we only had one other pitcher besides me, so she had to pitch every game.  I can only imagine how hard that must have been for her and I feel horrible that she had to take on that much work."

The team made a playoff run and was one of the last 16 teams remaining in the NCAA Tournament that season, but for Starr, it was still quite hard to not be on the field with her teammates. The motivation to get back in the game pushed her to come back even stronger after surgery and continue playing the game she loves.

"I never realized how much I took my good health for granted before [the injury] happened," said Starr. "I worked harder than I ever have in my life to recover because I was so determined to pitch— not just for myself, but also for the team—again."

"I am most proud of myself for not giving up after it happened," she added. "It would have been very easy for me to have just hung up my cleats after my surgery, but instead I used it as fuel to work harder at practice and in the weight room to continue getting stronger."

While softball is a big part of Starr's daily routine, the exercise science and pre-physical therapy major keeps herself busy with school, practice, and on-campus clubs such as the Pre-Health Organization, HPE and Exercise Science Association, and the Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC). She also works at a senior living home in Naperville, a perfect job for someone looking to be a physical therapist with a focus on caring for the elderly.

Starr was a main component of a North Central team which finished the 2015 campaign with an overall record of 32-9, making the NCAA Tournament for the third straight year and posting a perfect 10-0 record in its season-opening Spring Break trip in Florida.

"The Florida trip is always a great bonding experience because we get to spend a lot of time together in a great place and we get to play together as a group for the first time," she said. "This is the second time in the three years that I've been here that we have gone 10-0 on our spring trip, so starting off on a hot-streak like that is really exciting because it gives us confidence and gets us really amped up for conference play."

Starr was voted a First Team All-College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) selection and the CCIW Pitcher of the Year this season, the third North Central player to be so honored.