Natalia Scekeres has quickly become a name known to Wildcat athletics. From the fall to the spring, Natalia is a prominent player on four sports teams at Latrobe. Starting in the fall, she plays on the volleyball team, transitioning to basketball in the winter and softball in the spring, along with flag football for the first inaugural season at Latrobe. She is a varsity starter for both the softball and flag football teams, and she is a letterwinner on the basketball team.
While she enjoys all the sports she plays, her passion lies on the softball field. Natalia has been playing softball since she was three years old and has quickly become a dominant player for both the Wildcats and her travel team, Outlaws National.
How long have you been playing each sport?
The first sport I ever played was softball, which I started playing when I was three years old. Then, when I was five, I started playing basketball. In middle school, I tried volleyball for the first time, and I have been playing it ever since. The flag football team just started this year at the high school, but I also played once before this when I was ten.
What do you like most about softball?
I grew up watching my sister play, so that sparked my interest, and I started really going with my dad
coaching me and then progressively I played on older teams which led to going across the country to play now and its just fun to see a bunch of new places and get to play with different people and make a bunch of new friends every season.
What is it like playing four sports?
I find it very enjoyable and rewarding to play multiple sports and learning to balance my time effectively. It is definitely a challenge to still hit or do some type of fielding every day on top of school work and my in-season sport, but it is very important to me, so I make time at some point in the day, whether it’s only 20 minutes or an hour.
What is your most memorable moment from each sport?
Softball: This past summer in Colorado, we were at a tournament we go to every year and we were down 6-1 in the last inning with two outs, and we ended up walking it off and I had the walk-off hit.
Flag Football: In our second game of the season, we were down 12-0 at halftime against Woodland Hills, and we shut them out the rest of the game and went on to win 24-12
Volleyball: In my seventh-grade season, we went undefeated, and we only lost one set all year, so it was an incredible experience.
Basketball: This past season, before our playoff game, we did Just Dance in our team room.
Who is your biggest supporter?
My parents are my biggest supporters because my mom is always there for me at every one of my games for every sport, and my dad always spends countless hours outside of games and practice to help me get better. Also, my sister played college softball at Point Park University, and she has always been someone that I look up to as a role model for what a successful female athlete is.
What does your future in sports look like?
In the future, I want to attend a Division 1 power 5 school to continue playing softball and most likely major in law. After my softball career is over, I would love to be a graduate assistant coach at the university that I choose for Law school.
How does being a multi-sport athlete help you?
In all my sports, I use the same movements in different ways at various points. A few key ones include fly balls in softball, which help me with passing and diving for balls in volleyball, my throwing mechanics in softball transfer to throwing the football, and the quick turns and movements from basketball support my reaction time and first steps on the field for softball.
What do you like about playing for Outlaws National?
I started playing for the Outlaws when I was nine years old. The organization is family-run with the players’ best interests in mind. Most of the teams are parent-coached, but the national teams have non-parent coaches. My coaches have been through the recruiting process before and have previous connections. They also don’t give any special treatment to, say, “a coach’s kid” and are completely volunteering their time because of their love for the game and for my team.
How did you get involved in travel softball?
I got involved with travel softball when I was seven years old. My first team before the Outlaws was the Steel City Cyclones, where I played up with girls two grades older than me. I had been playing t-ball since I was young and knew I wanted to play more competitively. Since my sister was going into her freshman year of college and had just finished her travel ball career, my dad reached out to his friend who ran a Cyclones team and asked for a private tryout. After that season, I joined the outlaws with girls that were all my age.
