With New Confidence, Sansbury Finds New Success
April 17, 2003

By Joe Monaco, AU Sports Information

In Howard Ferguson’s book, The Edge, the late Lakewood St. Edward’s wrestling coach believed that 95 percent of all people do not have the confidence in themselves as he believes they should.

In his terms, only five percent of the entire population is able to look themselves in the mirror and feel secure and comfortable with their abilities that will enable them to reach their full potential.

Sophomore Mandy Sansbury (Ripley, WV) became another statistic last season when she fell into that 95 percentile in her rookie season with the Ashland University softball team.

Once the AU catcher/designated hitter began doubting her abilities, she began a new game that couldn’t be won with hits or putouts. She constantly fought herself on every play and every at-bat in every game from the first pitch of the season until the final out was recorded with the mind games winning the majority of the battles.

In order to improve her confidence, Sansbury worked out tirelessly on all facets of her game during the summer and fall seasons. In her mind, there would never be another repeat of that first season.

Like Ferguson said, “it’s impossible to think like a winner – unless you can prove to yourself that you have the capability to be a winner.” It was Sansbury’s time to prove it to herself that she was capable to being successful.

“I think that I got a lot more confident in myself. During the past year, I’ve really grown up a lot and improved my mentality into the game. I still struggle mentally sometimes, but not like I did last year,” Sansbury said of the differences between her freshman and sophomore seasons.

Head coach Sheilah Gulas believes that Sansbury put too much pressure on herself and didn’t trust her own abilities enough during her freshman season.

“Mandy carried too much on her shoulders because she was coming from a very strong background. She was always a real good hitter and you know how that mental game plays into things when you’re not hitting the way that you’re used to. You just can’t get out of it because you are constantly trying, trying, trying with no results. Hitting is something that you have to do mindlessly and trust yourself,” explained Gulas.

At the plate, Sansbury struggled as she hit .192 with 23 hits in 120 plate appearances. She only scored nine runs while knocking in eight runs. As her confidence level sank so did her batting average and run production.

This is where the tale of two players begins. In her second season, Sansbury doesn’t even resemble the player she was a year ago. She comes to every game with a newly found confidence that has been playing dividends in her abilities.

Currently – she leads the team in batting average (.339), hits (39), home runs (5), runs batted in (27), total bases (64), slugging percentage (.557) and on-base percentage (.411). Sansbury is tops in the conference in hits and ranks in the top 10 in nine other offensive categories. Not too bad for a player who one year ago had no confidence in her abilities.

“I knew coming into the season that it was going to be a completely different season. I am seeing the ball well and am confident at the plate. I really learned a lot from last season. It doesn’t even have to be the success that I am having, it’s just knowing that I worked hard during the offseason and being confident,” added Sansbury.

“We knew last year that Mandy had the potential to be a very strong hitter in our program. She is just a lot more relaxed at the plate and turning into the type of player that we knew she had the potential to be,” Gulas offered.

Sansbury hasn’t been the only Eagle experiencing success in the new season. The 2003 season has been a total team effort with no one single leading the winning charge. Ashland is currently 28-10 and in third place in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference with a 6-2 record. The Eagles were ranked as high as 17th in the nation.

“It sounds funny, but we are scoring more runs this year. Last season, we would only score one or two runs and our pitching and defense would have to hold our opponents to one run or less for us to win, which is really hard in our conference. This season, we are scoring six, seven, eight runs a game and it gives us a little more range in our pitching and defense,” Sansbury explained.

With the runs coming in bunches, the Eagles are not relying on any one hitter to drive in the runs as they did a year ago with Alicia Longstreth in the lineup. Veterans like Sansbury, Josie Nelson (Prior Lake, MN) and Sara Mathes (Massillon, OH/Jackson) along with newcomers Mary McCabe (Boardman, OH) and Ashley Mayle (Louisville, OH) has given Gulas a variety of ways to produce runs.

“We’ve got a lot of strengths with the new players. Mary has great range at shortstop. Colleen (Devery) is really swinging the bat well. Ashley has helped out our outfield by bringing a strong arm. It is a lot of players contributing to the team’s success. Even the players who are not seeing as much playing time are helping out the starters by pushing them,” Sansbury said.

While she is only a sophomore, Sansbury has become one of the field generals for the Eagles as a catcher. AU has always had outstanding pitching with juniors Nelson and the resurgence of Leslie Eberhardt (Jeromesville, OH/Hillsdale). Sansbury is now playing an even bigger role controlling the pitching staff.

“I love to catch both pitchers. However – I get to mix it up a little more with Leslie on the mound. She has more pitches so it gives me an opportunity to outsmart the hitters. Overall, we have two great pitchers and it’s great to be behind the plate with either one,” Sansbury offered.

Take a quick look at the 2003 AU softball team. You will notice that there are not too many weaknesses on the team. The Eagles have outstanding pitching, strong hitting and solid defense – they have all the right ingredients to make another run for the conference and national championships. There is also one more small ingredient that makes this team even more potent – a more confident and comfortable player in Sansbury.

Now, it seems as though Sansbury has become another statistic. No longer is she in that 95 percent bracket that doesn’t believe in themselves. Now, she belongs to the five percent who do.