Rhys Williams/Staff Writer
In individual action sports, such as golf, track and field, or swimming, a person is most of the time competing for their own score, or time that may eventually be part of a team score, if it is at the collegiate level. Those athletes are known by their names.
In team sports, a single person is recognized by the number on their jersey and they are playing for the name on the front of the jersey, not the name on the back. Every action they take while they have their school colors on after having dawned that jersey is more reflective on the team in general than the individual.
That is even the case when you were a high school all-american in your respective sport, as is the case for FIU softball’s very own freshman infielder Stephanie Texeira. The four-year letterman, Texeira, put on the same number, 13, while at Gulliver Preparatory School in Miami, as she has since she was a child, and as she will for her career with the Panthers.
“When I was little I came late to an all-star game and 13 and a random number were the only ones available,” Texeira said. “Everyone on my team was telling me not to get number 13 because it is bad luck and I was scared at first but after I was like, ‘you know what, how cool would it be to prove people wrong that 13 really isn’t a bad number.”
Texeira has worn the number for a decent amount of her playing career.
“I’ve worn 13 since I was 11 or 12 years old,” Texeira said.
The high school all-american, who was also recruited by such universities as West Virginia University, George Washington University (D.C.), and Florida Gulf Coast University is already doing big things as a Panther.
She is averaging .444 at the plate and is tied for the team lead in home runs with three along with junior infielder Krystal Garcia. She also has 13 RBI’s and 20 hits.
Another member of the softball team, senior infielder Bre Kaye, who leads the team with six stolen bases, as of Feb. 26, has a little bit of a different story as to why she wears No. 9.
“It was kind of pre chosen for me,” Kaye said. “When [head] coach [Jake Schumann] called me when I was in Arizona and he was recruiting me he was like ‘Hey, how does number nine sound?’ and I said perfect. I don’t care about my number as long as I get a jersey.”
Jersey number consistency isn’t a top priority to Kaye, however.
“It doesn’t matter at this point. I have always had number two or number four and I love those numbers,” Kaye said. “Those are always chosen so I was like, you know what, whatever.”
This is not the first collegiate level program for Kaye. She spent her freshman and sophomore campaigns as a member of the Arizona State University Sun Devils squad where she appeared in a total of 30 games.
The Glendale, Ariz. native started 44 games of the 46 that she made appearances in for the Panthers in 2013 and has already eclipsed the number of steals that she has the entirety of last season, which was five. While only hitting .238 (30-for-126) Kaye had seven RBI’s. Kaye had nine multi-hit games including a single three-hit outing against Troy University in Sun Belt Conference Play.
The Panthers kick off part of the Louisville Slugger tournament in Kaye’s home state, as it takes place in Tempe, Ariz, tonight, Feb. 28 against Ball State University. The other opponents for FIU include Kaye’s former school in ASU for two matchups, the University of Minnesota, and the University of Detroit Mercy as the final game before heading back to Miami to play Michigan State University on Thursday, March 6. The game against the Spartans of MSU will be the last game before entering Conference USA play against the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in a three game series beginning March 8.
-rhys.williams@fiusm.com