By Morgan Price

“Excellence is the result of bearing more than others think is wise, risking more than others think is safe, dreaming more than others think is practical, and expecting more than others think is possible.”

This is a favorite quote of Danielle Lawrie’s — an Olympic softball superstar who isn’t famous outside the world of women’s softball. However, I admire her because she is strong and pushes herself, following her dreams.

She was born in April of 1987, in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada.

She has one older brother who currently plays for a minor-league baseball team. As a young girl, Danielle had fun playing softball, and gained excellent softball skills. As a teenager, she went to Brookswood Secondary School, where she led her team to three league championships — earning Most Valuable Player titles as a freshman and senior.

In 2006,  she graduated from Brookswood and went on to play softball at the University of Washington.

Throughout her softball career, Danielle achieved many personal accomplishments. In 2009, her team won the Women’s College World Series, largely due to Danielle’s talent.

Following that year, when she was 20, she was one of 15 players asked to play for Canada in the Olympics in Beijing, China.

The year the Huskies won the World Series, she was named the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year, (besides Series’ Most Outstanding Player) and was named the Pac-10 Pitcher of the Year.

She was named National Player of the Year her last two seasons in college.

She is the only UW athlete to take home Player of the Year honors twice in any sport in school history. In the circle during her senior year, she managed a 40-5 record with 1.11 ERA and 495 strikeouts in 302 innings (walking just 46 batters).

She graduated last year and currently plays for the Florida Pride, a women’s semi-pro softball team. She helped the Pride capture the 2010 national championship title.

I view Danielle Lawrie as a strong and intelligent person, but most of all, I feel connected to her because she is a pitcher like me.

Danielle Lawrie is someone I admire for her strength and determination. I hope to follow in her footsteps by pushing myself to practice every day, and never give up even when things seem impossible.

— Morgan Price is a pitcher for the Davis Lady Demons under-12 traveling team. The daughter of Rob and Cathy — both University of Washington graduates — Morgan comes by her allegiance to the Huskies, and Lawrie, honestly.

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