by Phil Parker
Daily Lobo
When Cassie Chavez first learned she was pregnant, her thoughts immediately turned to softball.
"I was already married for two years, so I wasn't worried about my family or anything," the junior third baseman said. "I was worried about telling my coaches. I didn't know what I was going to tell them."
She said she didn't know what to expect when she broke the news to the softball coaching staff. Would they grant her a redshirt without knowing what kind of shape she could be in when she returned? Would they tell her it might be best if she just quit the team and moved on with her family?
Chavez started all but one game for the Lobos as a freshman. After practicing all fall with her teammates, she learned over winter break she would become a mother. A cannon-armed third baseman who hit .293 with seven home runs to earn all-conference honors her first year, she suddenly had a new set of priorities.
"I played for a month after I found out I was pregnant," she said. "I still came out with the team every day for practice. I still hit up to my seventh month. I wouldn't be running, but I would come in the cage and hit off the tee and stuff."
Chavez laughed recalling the months when she'd practice her swing despite the noticeable disadvantage of carrying a child.
She was granted the redshirt and returned to the team last year. But a funny thing happened when she got back on the field - Chavez was actually better.
"She really went the extra mile to get into shape," head coach Kim Newbern said.
With her new daughter Keyannah at home, Chavez came back for the 2004 season with some newfound motivation.
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"I think that having a kid has made me push myself more, because I wanted to be even better," she said.
She started all 65 games for the Lobos her first year back at third base and was second on the team with a .289 average. She led the team in RBIs with 25 and slugging percentage at .474. She also added eight home runs and 11 doubles - both improvements on her freshman campaign.
"It took a lot of work," she said. "But the coaches just pushed me, and I went in there and took every day seriously. I did lots of long-distance running. We would run the whole football field. But it wasn't just me. It was all the girls, and they pushed me really hard."
She also began working out intensely in the weight room.
"The weight room was huge for me," she said. "Every time I went in there, I made sure I was really pushing myself and giving 100 percent every day."
And her team has a new honorary member. Keyannah, as Newbern put it, "has 15 aunts on this team."
Her teammates' support culminated in a massive baby shower thrown before she had to leave the team. Chavez got phone calls from all the players when her baby was born.
"Even though I was the one who was pregnant, they all went through the same stuff I did, because I was with them all up until my eighth month," she said. "It was like they had a baby too."
Now it's common for Keyannah to attend practice and watch her mother take swings or practice fielding hard grounders.
She's never wanting for a babysitter.
"When she comes out to practice, some of (my teammates) will watch her when I'm batting or taking fielding practice," Chavez said. "They all just love her. She is comfortable with any of them. She loves them all."
