Alumni Dani Whitehead returns to Meramec to pitch for the Archers
By: Spencer Gleason
Sports Editor
Minutes before the first pitch is thrown or the first crack of the bat, country singer Luke Bryan’s southern drawl voice begins to echo through the trees surrounding Meramec’s softball field as the radio plays. This is the moment when the starting pitcher is able to clear her mind, not allowing any thoughts to enter—just her throwing a ball into a catcher’s mitt. It is the focus.
While warming up in the bullpen Dani Whitehead, sophomore pitcher, begins to whisper the lyrics to herself.
“Cotton wool falling like snow in July; Sunset, riverside, four-wheel drive.”
The smack of the ball landing in the mitt begins to coincide with the beat of the drums.
“The music played before the game pumps us up, but it also helps me not think about the game,” Whitehead said. “Usually I’m just singing songs or trying to just focus on the music and stuff and not so much, ‘I have to do this. I have to do that.’ Once it’s game time I clear my head.”
As the nerves subside, Whitehead, who will turn 21 in August, is used to taking the field as a starting pitcher. She feels at home. After all, she started the Archers first six games, earlier this season. Her 118 innings leads teammates, all the while holding a 3.85 ERA.
“I like being in control of the game,” Whitehead said. “When I’m pitching the game, it’s on my time. I like that. I like being involved in every single play.”
Whitehead, who also plays the outfield for the Archers, has also caught in her young career.
“I think [it helps],” Whitehead said, “because when I’m pitching, I think of the catchers aspect. What pitch I would throw next. So it helps if the catcher is unsure, it helps that I have been there so that I know.”
Whitehead, who played with the Meramec Magic last season, left at the end of the season to play softball at Kentucky Wesleyan College, a Division II school, 206 miles away from the familiar grounds of St. Louis.
After making the decision to leave familiar faces, Whitehead found herself playing her favorite game “in the middle of nowhere” for a school that had 700 students total. After returning home during her fall break, Whitehead began to feel homesick.
“I liked the softball part because it was Division II and everybody wanted to be there. Everybody wanted to compete,” Whitehead said. “I really liked that, but it was so small. I missed the city, I guess. I didn’t like that everybody knew everyone and I missed my family, of course.”
Like most athletes, Whitehead does not need to look far for where her athletic ability came from. Her grandmother plays tennis and still does. While in her late 60s, Whitehead’s grandmother still challenges her granddaughter to tennis matches. She is undefeated against the younger generation.
“We play together all the time,” Whitehead said of her grandmother. “I’m very close with her. She has always pushed me ever since I was little to do every sport. She has pushed me very hard, especially in softball. She comes to all my games.”
While Whitehead’s grandmother sits in the stands, Whitehead takes the field. She steps on the pitching rubber and stares into the catcher’s mitt. All clears her mind except for the melody of a song.
“[Softball] has always been number one,” Whitehead said. “I’ve just always been good at it. I’ve stuck with it. I have the most fun playing it.”
