Written and Media by Joshua Robinson.
Most people don’t know anything about the softball players around campus. Mostly, you would hear more about individual players on the football or basketball team that are making a name for themselves. But rarely do we hear about people on the softball team. There is a variety of softball players that have major talent, but one stands out in front of all the players on the team this year. She has been a four year starter and has won numerous awards over the past four years her whole college career. Everyone, meet Tiffany Samsoe.
Tiffany Samsoe is a senior at Greenville College and the star third baseman for the Panthers’ softball team. She’s from Norco, California. She has been playing softball ever since the age of 4. Tiffany fell in love with this sport because her sister played it before her.
“I would always watch her play,” Tiffany said. “She’s a good motivator, as well.”
She attended Norco High School where she played for their varsity softball team all her four years as a catcher. During her junior year, she helped her team win the ESPN Fab 50 National Championship. She was also an All-Conference All-American in high school.
Tiffany first found out about Greenville from her former high school teammate that was a former student of the college. When she told Tiffany about Greenville College, Tiffany gave it a shot.
“I love the small atmosphere here,” Tiffany stated. “It wasn’t that hard to adjust because my high school was small, so it wasn’t that big of a difference.”
Photo source: Greenville.edu
During her freshman year, she played 44 games with a batting average of .455 which was second in the conference. She had 44 RBIs scoring 43 runs with 19 doubles, 6 triples and 5 home runs. On defense she had a total of 66 putouts. She had won SLIAC Athlete of the Week, SLIAC Second Team All-Conference, Newcomer of the Year, and the SLIAC All-Tournament Team.
For her sophomore year Tiffany played in 41 games. She had a batting average of .477 with 14 home runs, 11 doubles, and 1 triple. She had 56 RBIs and scored 36 runs. She had 130 putouts on defense at third base. She won SLIAC Athlete of the Week two weeks in a row and made the SLIAC Third Team All-Conference.
During her junior year, she played in all 46 games with a batting average of .466. She had 7 home runs and 21 doubles with 44 RBIs and 41 runs. She had 23 putouts on defense at third base. Tiffany won 2nd Team NCCAA All-American and had finally won SLIAC First Team All-Conference. She also helped her team win the Conference tournament, which was a 14 hour game that lasted until 1 in the morning due to a lot of rain delays.
As for this season, Tiffany expects to help her team win Conference Tournament again. So far this season, she has a batting average of .427 with 4 home runs, 16 doubles, 1 triple, 37 runs and 38 RBIs. She’s looking forward to finishing her last season as a Panther on a good note.
