Emma Marchant: pitching you in on the inside run of her life
Freshman-pitcher Emma Marchant, a.k.a. “Temma,” (tall Emma) is from Salt Lake City, Utah. She was recruited from Olympus High School. While playing for the Titans, Marchants teammates called her Temma because there were two Emma’s and they differentiated them by their heights. Marchants nickname then followed her from high school to Utah State University Eastern.
Marchant is a four-time-letter winner, an academic-all-state student, received second-team-all-state in 5A her junior and senior years, received all-region for region 6 her junior and senior years, had the most strikeouts in the state and was a two-time-letter winner in basketball.
She is working to complete her associate degree at USUE and plans to attend USU upon the completion of her associate. She has an interest in working with children, but hasn’t decided on a major yet, nor knows if she will continue to play softball after USUE.
One of the hardest decisions Marchants had to make was choosing which college to attend. “I almost went to SLCC,” she said. “I think I was only verbally committed to SLCC, but decided USUE was the best choice for me because it was a good distance from home. I could still play softball and I wanted to experience the ‘college life for myself.’”
Ever since Marchant was little, she wanted to play college ball, “It’s something I dreamed about growing up and now I’m actually here, playing in college.”
Some of Marchant’s favorite memories at USUE are, “doing photo shoots with my friends, prank wars with other dorms and staying up until 2 a.m. just hanging out and playing games.”
Marchant looks up to her mom’s example as a role model in life because, “My mom is very giving, she is always looking for ways to help others and puts their needs before hers. She has always been there for me, supported me and encouraged me to work hard and do my best.”
While her dad’s advice has impacted her life. “My dad has always taught me and my siblings to find something you love and stick with it,” which for Marchant was softball.
Another role model besides her mom was her high school coach, “Papa Wes.” “He genuinely cared about each of us on the team and reminded us that there’s a lot more to life than softball, that it’s just a game,” she said. “He always supported me and made softball fun.”
Marchant’s goal this year is, “I want to get 1% better everyday which is a goal we have as a team and also to be the go-to pitcher that my coaches and teammates trust to get the job done.”
Regarding this year’s team, Marchant said, “I’m excited to see our team be successful and come together as a team. In the fall, we kind of struggled. I feel like we weren’t really united as a team because we were still getting to know each other, but we’ve gotten a lot closer.”
“In Vegas and Arizona, we showed ourselves how good we can be when we play hard and together as a team, we were super successful in both of our tournaments,” Marchant said. “We can beat good teams and we are a good team.”
“We’re definitely the underdog and other’s underestimate us because we are a smaller school and a newer program, but I think we’re going to surprise a lot of people with what we can do.”
Marchant has been pitching since she was 8 and is the main position she plays. “I love pitching and love having that control in the game and getting to be a part of every single play. It’s nice to know that I have my defense behind me and they are going to back me up.”
In regards to Head Coach Shelby Shurtliff, Marchant said, “Shelby is awesome, she pushes us and makes us work hard because she knows how much potential we have. She wants to see us do our best. When we are working hard, that is when we are going to be successful. She cares about us, I think she’s really good and knows the game of softball, she’s taught us a lot.”
USUE softball team’s next game is Feb. 28 – 29 in Ephraim, Utah, against rival Snow College, followed by a home game March 6-7.
