From a young age, there was no doubt Drake University senior Megan Sowa would succeed in softball. After all, she was just eight years old when she began playing on a 10U travel team. She and her friend were the youngest on the team.

"I didn't like soccer and I was too small to play basketball so my parents started me on t-ball," Sowa said. "I was kind of good so I kept playing and started to love the sport."
 
She continued playing on travel teams and played for her high school team, Warren Township, in Gurnee, Ill. But, the travel team she was playing on, The Northern Ice wasn't a well-known team. When it came to recruiting, Sowa had difficulty finding colleges that wanted her to play for them. She then switched to a team called The Illinois Chill in hopes of catching the eyes of more schools.
 
"I was in Colorado playing in a tournament and my now coach [Rich Calvert] noticed me and asked me to visit Drake," Sowa said. The decision to attend Drake from there was easy. Sowa liked the campus and softball program and would soon become a Bulldog and double major in English and Secondary Education.
 
As a senior, Sowa has played with different groups of people each year with freshman classes and transfers coming in. She says the change each year is beneficial because while the girls are all similar, they still have differences that bring a new feel and skills to the team.
 
Because the team gets along so well, and the coaches don't assign captains, it is up to the seniors to act as the leaders. Even though Sowa says she has always helped lead her team on the field, this is the year she was really able to step up to the plate.
 
"In years past, I would say my leadership came more from on the field in hitting and playing," Sowa said. "I'm kind of a quieter person in that aspect, but this year I was able to give more direction when it was needed."
 
The women's softball team currently holds a 25-26 record (8-15 in the Missouri Valley Conference) and saw difficulty throughout the season with injuries and coming up short. Unfortunately, like most sports, it's hard to look past the difficult times and strive for better. "It's a sport of failure and sometimes that's something I don't take very well," Sowa said. "This is really the first season I've been on the team that we have had this much of an issue winning a game."
 
But with the help of her team, together they try to move past the losses and come back even stronger, not thinking about the record. Luckily, since the team is so close, or as Sowa describes it as a "built in family," they are able to support one another and remind each other why they are all there. "I think this next weekend will be a good one," Sowa said. "And when it comes to the tournament, I think we will be at our best, competitively."
 
Her career at Drake has been decorated with honors. She is a three-time All-MVC selection (All-MVC First Team her freshman and junior years and All-MVC Second Team her sophomore year) and earned MVC Scholar-Athlete honorable mention accolades in 2016. She is in Drake's top-10 of several all-time statistical categories: at-bats (621, 7^th), batting average (.324, 6^th), hits (201, 5^th), runs batted in (104, 4^th), runs (123, 3^rd) and walks (83, 2^nd) and just outside in career triples (5) and home runs (17).
 
After her final game this season, Sowa will be trading the softball field for a classroom. Since her freshman year of high school, with a little inspiration from a former English teacher, she has wanted to become just that: a high school English teacher. "My mom has found pictures I drew when I was really little saying I wanted to be a teacher," Sowa said. 
 
In addition to her hopes of becoming an English teacher, Sowa had a number of professors at Drake help her find a possible new path to add to her future teaching career in Special Education. Because she has been able to work with different students in schools throughout the Des Moines area, Sowa says they have all been helpful in finding her place.
 
"I just signed a lease for an apartment downtown and I'd be perfectly happy staying in Des Moines for a little while," Sowa said. "I really liked the city and school districts in the area. But that's just the three-year plan, I don't know where it will take me next."
 
As for softball, Sowa doesn't see herself playing anymore, but she does see herself taking her teaching skills back to the field. "I can see myself being a high school softball coach," Sowa said. "Since softball is in the summer that would give me something to do in the summer."
 
Sowa says it still hasn't sunk in that this weekend will be her last home games and that she will miss her teammates the most.  
 
"This is what I've been doing my whole life," Sowa said. "I don't really know who I am without softball yet. I'm going to miss my teammates the most. The game is fun and all, but it's the team that really makes it better."