April 9, 2020
BLUFFTON, Ohio – Number two in our series of softball seniors and number 13 on the field, Caylin Morstadt, an early childhood education major from Delaware, Ohio, is today's featured athlete. A third baseman by trade, Morstadt has been a swiss army knife for the Beavers the past four years. As a freshman, Caylin was a fixture in the lineup at DP. With Bluffton in desperate need of a backstop in 2018, she stepped up behind the plate and took on a position she had never played before. With Brittany Huff gone in 2019, Caylin found a home at shortstop where she swept up everything the past two seasons, earning NFCA All-Region honors as a junior!
Sometimes where you live plays a large part in where you decide to go to college. Delaware, Ohio, may not seem like the heart of Beaver country, but with Bob and Melissa (Baer) Day as neighbors, Caylin had no choice but to check out the purple and white! With their energetic encouragement and with former baseball standout Tim Webb just down the street, she decided to see what Bluffton had to offer. It didn't take long for Caylin to decide that Bluffton was the place for her, committing to play softball here in November of her senior year.
While there are numerous challenges that come with being a student-athlete at the collegiate level, Caylin found that time management was one that rose to the top of her list as a freshman. When she saw a 3.5 beside her name (which would lead to exuberant celebration for most collegians) following her spring semester as a freshman, Caylin knew that low point was not acceptable in her world. Getting back to perfection took just one semester and her outstanding organizational skills have been par for the course ever since.
Caylin feels that Bluffton's top-notch teacher education program has prepared her to make the transition from student to teacher. The numerous field experiences coupled with the cross cultural program have positively impacted her education and she is grateful for those opportunities. Student teaching allowed Caylin to hone her organizational skills while improving her ability to communicate with both students and peers. Completing the Education TPA requirements pushed Caylin to work under pressure, something she has been doing on the softball field all her life.
One of Caylin's fondest memories from her time at Bluffton is the seventh inning of game two versus Albion last season. With the Beavers on the verge of being swept by the Britons, Morstadt stepped to the plate with two outs and Bluffton trailing 9-8. Her double to the wall in center field picked up Casey Clark from second and Sydney Bowen all the way from first as Morstadt's first-ever walkoff at Bluffton handed the good guys a 10-9 victory!
The primary piece of advice Caylin would like to leave for her youthful teammates is, "Do not take anything for granted. It is easy to say you have next season, but sometimes that just isn't the case." She added, "Work hard when nobody is watching."
Getting to know Caylin, along with her parents, Shane and Crystal, has truly been a blessing to me. I would like to send a very special thank you to Crystal for supplying us with photos last year and again this year. I can't thank you folks enough for your help and for the friendship we will take forward!
-BEAVERS-