When Emma Anderson took her first swing playing tee ball in Eaton when she was about 6 years old, it wasn’t exactly love at first at-bat. At that age, her true love was basketball.
But a few years later, a 10-year-old Anderson found her love for softball.
“Eventually, I was like ‘Oh my gosh, this is so cool,’ ” Anderson said. “The sport, the people, everything is so amazing. Then I fell back in love with it.”
At the beginning of September, Anderson’s love for softball had her on her second softball recruiting visit to the University of Arizona in Tucson. Her love for the campus and the city known as “The Old Pueblo” came at the speed of a rise ball pitch from Jennie Finch — one of the all-time great University of Arizona athletes and one of the greatest softball players.
Anderson loved the community so much that she announced it would be her home for four years, starting in 2027, as the Eaton High School junior committed to play softball for the Wildcats.
“I’ve always wanted to go to Tucson and go experience what it would be like to be a Wildcat for a day,” she said. “That I’m going to be able to be a Wildcat for the next four years is so exciting. I’m grateful for everyone who’s gotten me to this point.”
Anderson is one of the top catchers and players in the 2027 class, according to softball media outlets such as Softball America and Line Drive Media. Line Drive Media ranked her as the ninth-best overall player in her class.
Anderson has been a pillar for the Reds since her freshman year, helping Eaton win the 3A state championship last season and in 2023.
Eaton has four softball championships in its history, all of which have come since 2020. In this championship era of Reds’ softball, Anderson feels grateful to play with a team that enjoys taking the diamond together every practice and game.
“Being able to be on a team like this is extraordinary,” she said. “I know a lot of programs strive for that, so being a part of this is so incredibly cool.”
Arizona is a blueblood softball program with eight national championships and more than 100 All-American players in its history.
Caitlin Lowe became head coach at Arizona in 2022 after serving as a longtime assistant under Mike Candrea, who led the program for 36 seasons, winning more than 1,600 games and eight national championships. He retired in 2021. Lowe was a four-time All-American outfielder and two-time national champion at Arizona in the early 2000s.
Anderson said Lowe and her staff were a large selling point. She called Lowe an amazing human, who, along with her staff, wants Anderson to succeed as a great softball player and as a better human.
Chad Shaw, Eaton’s head softball coach, said Anderson is one of the best Eaton athletes he has seen over his 26 years at Eaton. With all her talent, Shaw said her top quality is her interactions with her teammates.
“She fully knows that skill-wise and talent-wise and work ethic-wise that she’s head and shoulders above most,” Shaw said. “She doesn’t treat them any differently, and I think that’s one of the best attributes that Emma has is that she’s a down-to-earth person, and that comes from her parents and her family. They keep grounded pretty well.”
Her down-to-earth manner isn’t reserved for the diamond; it goes with her into the classroom. Shaw has had Anderson as a student. Like her pinpoint throws to nail a runner trying to steal second base, Anderson is pinpoint when it comes to letting Shaw and other teachers know when she plans on missing school.
“He means the world to me,” Anderson said about Shaw — a sentiment he echoed toward Anderson. “He’s been so good to me these last three years.”
For players like Anderson, travel softball teams are essential to getting in front of college scouts. The teams travel to multiple tournaments and showcases during their seasons. Typically, a player finds a travel team either in their city or within driving distance.
Since she was 14, Anderson has flown out to California to play and practice with her travel team: The Corona Angels-Tyson. Sometimes she flies out every other week, and others, she’s there every weekend. Her travel ball season starts at the end of October, right after the state championships.
John Maller, founder of the Colorado Angels travel softball team, guided Anderson to the Corona Angels. He worked with Marty Tyson, founder of the Corona Angels, while living in California.
Anderson and Maller connected thanks to her longtime hitting coach, Chris Hutton, who’s the head coach of the University High School softball team. Anderson said Hutton called Maller to set up a meeting between the two when she was 12 years old.
Soon after meeting Maller, Anderson was playing for his 12u Colorado Angels team.
It didn’t take long for Maller to notice that Anderson’s talent was too big for Colorado. She needed to be in a bigger state with a bigger audience if she wanted to get the level he knew she could play at.
“After that year (with the Colorado Angels), I said, ‘If you’re willing, I would like to take you on a different journey because you’re good enough to play … at that time I told her Power 5 softball,’ ” Maller said.
At Maller’s suggestion, Tyson set up Anderson up for a tryout to join the 18u Corona-Angels team.
“It was very nerve-wracking, but it was all part of the process,” Anderson said.
She later tried out and made one of the 14u Corona-Angels teams. Since then, she has flown to and with the Angels thanks to Maller.
“He cared for me so much,” Anderson said. “That man has done so much for me. He knew I needed something bigger and better.”
When she’s with Arizona, Anderson is happy to play wherever Lowe and the staff need her. Anderson has primarily caught over the years, but if she’s needed elsewhere, Shaw and Maller are confident she can be just as great at other positions as she is at catcher.
Expect for pitcher. She has tried pitching a few times, Shaw said, and he lightheartedly said she’s great everywhere else on the field.
Even if she doesn’t see the field right away, her hitting could make it tough for Lowe and staff to keep her out of the Wildcats’ lineup. Her high school career totals to date are 30 home runs, 140 hits and a .591 batting average.
Those lofty numbers have her poised to accomplish her goals when she’s in a red, white and blue Arizona jersey. She hopes to play in the Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City and add her name to the Arizona All-American list. Maller expects her to accomplish the latter, and he’s also hoping to see her in another red, white and blue jersey some day.
“I want her to make the Olympic team,” Maller said. “I know she’s going to be an All-America. Her work ethic and her presence on the field, she’s going to be an All-American. I want an Olympian.”
Softball returns as an Olympic sport at the 2028 Los Angeles Games. It was last played in 2021 for the 2020 Tokyo Games. Team USA last won gold in the sport in 2004, with Candrea as the head coach.
In the nearer future, Anderson and her Eaton teammates — who are 3A’s second seed — will play host to No. 31 Meeker at 12:15 p.m. Saturday. If they win, they’ll contend for a state berth with No. 15 La Junta or No. 18 Resurrection Christian .
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