By Tara Sowle
UWRF Sports Information

Freshman second basemen Cassie Peterson joins this year's Falcon softball team and is bringing good things to her new team.  

"I admire her determination, persistence, and positive attitude," said Falcon Coach Faye Perkins about the New Richmond native.

Peterson has been playing softball for a long time. "I started playing softball with a plastic bat as soon as I learned to walk. I was at the ball park every weekend of the summer, from the day I was born, watching my dad play," said Peterson. She started playing in city league in Eagan when she was seven. "One of my funniest memories of softball is from that league - we were in the middle of a game and one of my team mates was running to first base, she came to a screeching halt and said, 'time out, I dropped my barrette!'"

During high school, she was her team's captain and helped to lead her team to the conference championship. She twice was named to the all-conference team for softball and once for volleyball.  

Peterson has a lot of personal motivation and love for the game that keeps her coming back year after year, but her family has also been a huge part of her enthusiasm. "I think having my parent's coach and stay active in sports makes us a better family. I feel sports have helped me really get to know my parents and my sisters."

Peterson is also still active in volleyball.   She has helped coach the youth and junior Olympic volleyball team and is the secretary of the New Richmond Volleyball Association.

With all her experience in volleyball as well as softball it was a tough decision for Peterson to decide to continue playing softball and not volleyball. "Softball has always been my favorite sport and I guess I thought at the college level I was a bit on the short side for volleyball. I still debate if I should go out for it next year," said Peterson.

She decided to come to UW River Falls because she knew it would help her with her big plans after college.  "I want to be a teacher and I know that River Falls has an excellent department of education. Some day I hope to coach both volleyball and softball. I plan to work my way up to coaching at a high school level."   

At second base, Peterson is Breamber Syveson's backup, but Peterson is no stranger to other positions. "I have played just about everywhere at some point in my career," said Peterson.

"Cassie is an extremely dedicated and hard-working player," said Perkins, "She has worked hard on her hitting and fielding. Even though she has seem limited playing time, she has been a positive contributor to the team in every aspect."

When she has been in the lineup she's shown she has the talents and skills to make plays both in the field and at bat. Her best games came in a double header sweep over North Central when she had two hits in the first game and scored two runs and had four RBI in the second contest.

With the season winding down, Peterson says she thinks that it is going great so far. "We have defense and offense - we just need to hold on to our wins and stick together as a team and we should have a strong finish to our season."

When Peterson has any spare time she loves to roller blade, camp, water ski, and fish.   She's also a huge fan of watching sports, especially the Minnesota Twins.