Jordan Ingalls is enjoying playing softball, liking the college experience of Youngstown State, and keeping her dreams and her goals on different paths.  She has twice been named Horizon League Player of The Week already this year and has paced the team offensively as the most consistent Lady Penguin.  Ingalls, a junior, takes a respectable stance on family, academics, and her approach to a game she loves.  She was good to interview, commenting that the questions she answered were not what she would have expected, that it was a fun conversation that she enjoyed.  Likewise.

Paneech: Are you and Sarah Ingalls both from Bolivar, New York?  Are you cousins, sisters?

Ingalls: (laughs)  We are related distantly.  Her great, great, great grandfather and my great, great, great, great grandfather were brothers.  Those brothers were cousins of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s father, Charles.  I had no idea that Sarah and I were related until my freshman year.  They came out to McCune Park saying they were my distant relatives and e-mailed me.  That was crazy in itself, and the following year, she ended up being on the team.

Paneech: How did you get started with softball and have you always been an outfielder?

Ingalls: It’s kind of an interesting story.  My dad was always really into sports and I was the only girl in the house besides my mom, so we were all really into sports.  My dad used to take me to the high school games when I was young and I saw the pitchers.  Being left-handed, shortstop was kind of out, so I tried the whole pitching thing.  I pitched my entire life and when I came to YSU, I pitched and played the outfield.  It’s crazy how you end up in places you never thought you would end up.  I am a completely different athlete now then when I came in.

Paneech: Who  is your favorite Major League Baseball Team and player?

Ingalls: I would say the Pirates are my favorite team.  I really don’t have a favorite player, but I used to really like Jack Wilson.  I have always been a Pirates fan because of my dad, every year we are hoping that they can turn it around.

Paneech: Do performance enhancing drugs exist in women’s softball?

Ingalls: It’s hard for me to imagine that happening in this sport.  When I look at friends and players I know from their teams, from our team, I would think never in a thousand years.  If you look at the overall spectrum, you wonder, could someone be doing that?  You would like to think that there is no abuse in softball.  Optimistically, I don’t think so.

Paneech: What is your approach to hitting.  Do you look for a certain pitch or do you attack what you see?

Ingalls: Most of hitting for me is strictly mental.  When I came in as a freshman, I was very aggressive and wanted to hit.  I want to hit so bad that sometimes I chase a pitch that is not my pitch.  After last year, I really worked in the cage on hitting in pressure situations and with runners in scoring position.  When you look at a good hitter, you can’t just look at the batting average because getting the job done is not always the result of a base hit.  In a smaller spectrum, you don’t have to get a hit every single time.  You analyze the situation and do what has to be done.  If I think too much, chances are bad I can help the team.

Paneech: What would you think about moving baseball season to August and football season to March since the weather has changed so much and three quarters of your season is dictated by Mother Nature?

Ingalls: I’ve never heard that before.  I think when you are an athlete, you go out and you want to play.  I hate seeing a game get cancelled for anybody.  The weather can’t be changed and when you are freezing, it should not prevent you from winning a game.  You can’t think about it.  When we played Loyola earlier this year, it was freezing.  It’s a mental game,  you are cold, but so is everyone else.

Paneech: The football and basketball players at this university are Twitter maniacs.  Do you partake in Twitter or Facebook?

Ingalls: A lot of the players on the team have Twitter and some get into it more than others.  There are a couple of girls on the team that it is every two seconds they are Tweeting.  I have an account but hardly ever use it.  I check it for scores.

Paneech: Who is your best friend on the team and why?

Ingalls:  Kristina Rendle. I’m nervous for next year when she will not be here.  We came in together and we know everything about each other.  I have such a good friendship with her that it is hard to think about coming to practice and her not being there.  We are like a package deal – it’s always Joradan and Rendy, Jordan and Rendy.  We help each other to get better by pitching to each other, we run at the exact same speed, she will push me and be honest with me.  She’s a great person to be with on or off of the field.

Paneech: What other sports did you play besides softball?

Ingalls: I played golf, my dad is a really good golfer, and I still play today and probably will for the rest of my life.  That will be the first sport that my kids play.  I love basketball, played soccer, and participated in track and field when I was younger.  I went to a really small school so anything you could get your hands on was fun, there just wasn’t much else to do.

Paneech: How is the school part going here?  Have you chosen a major yet?

Ingalls: I’m studying physical education to teach and have wanted to do that since kindergarten.  People come here and change their major four times and I don’t need to worry because I know what I want to do.  I substitute teach in New York because you can while you are going to school for it.  It doesn’t get old and I enjoy going to the classes.  The worst class I took here was weather with Buckler.  It was awful.  I was a freshman still learning how to study.  I had to learn what the temperature was in Arkansas if a low pressure system was moving North.  It was a nightmare, and I got a C in it.

One Word Answers

Favorite Hat: I wear a visor.

Typical Fast Food Order: Jimmy John’s #11 Country Club with barbecued chips and Diet Coke.

Biggest Phobia: Snakes.

Favorite TV Show: Criminal Minds.

Worst Habit: Chewing my gum too loud.

Best Baseball Movie Ever: Fever Pitch.

Dream Vacation: Ireland.

Favorite Musician: Lil Wayne.

Toppings on A Pizza: Whatever anyone wants, I like everything.

Favorite Holiday: Christmas Eve.

Special thanks to Ron Stevens for the photographs. The weather that Jordan doesn’t mind kept me away, but Ron had a few he let me use!