Ayana Lindsey graduated from City high in 2021, after starting for City High softball for five years. Beginning in 8th grade, Lindsey was the starting pitcher for the Little Hawks. Lindsey stepped into the taxing role of pitching for a varsity team with ease. As an 8th grader, she led the Little Hawks to her first state appearance, where they placed 5th.
“It was a good building year. But the next few years were also pretty good. I feel like we had pretty good success. I primarily played shortstop and pitcher every other game, so I had a fun time doing that, and that’s how I got recruited, too.” Lindsey said.
Lindsey had quite the successful high school career, including earning the title of Gatorade Player of the year for the 2020-2021 softball season. With a .500 batting average, 12 home runs, 31 RBI’s, and 18 stolen bases, Lindsey was the sure choice for the Gatorade player of the year. The star shortstop and pitcher chose to continue her softball career at NorthWestern University.
Lindsey has high praise for her alma mater. “They have a world class education, and you don’t get opportunities to do that just anywhere.” As for the softball aspect, Lindsey said their team had a “family feel,” which made the program all the more enjoyable.
“The coaches there are twins, so that’s fun. And then the two other ones that are assistants, they’re married. It was really, really fun.” Lindsey said.
During her time at Northwestern, Lindsey says that the greatest accomplishment she had was “just being able to be a part of it [the softball program].”
“Not everyone gets to play every day, and I got the opportunity to do that. I try not to take that for granted.”
Lindsey had advice for unbreakable female athletes that are striving to reach their goals in their sport.
“Just showing up and being a good teammate gets you pretty far. By doing that well and showing up no matter what’s going on in your own life, I think that’s really huge.”
Lindsey was not sure what she wanted to do throughout college. But, once she did a marketing internship at Northwestern, she realized that even if she was not playing, she enjoyed being around the atmosphere of sports.
“I got a feel for what athletics was like working on the other side, and I thought it was cool.” Lindsey said.
Now, Lindsey finds herself working on that other side at City High, as the athletic secretary. Lindsey is a great representation of the success that can come from being an unbreakable female athlete.
