It was never going to be easy, but Summer Bast’s senior softball season began about as rough as it could have.
She stood in the pitcher’s circle at Mingus Union High School on the last weekend of February prepared to take the Camp Verde softball program back to its storied roots. But quickly something felt wrong. She felt a sharp pain. The shoulder rotations
weren’t as smooth as they should’ve been.
As it turns out, Bast suffered two small tears — one in her bicep and the other in her throwing shoulder.
She missed a couple of games but ultimately returned to the circle and her team. While battling those injuries with regular physical therapy from her “second Mom” Danya Weir, Bast still churned out a 3A North Central All-Region 2nd Team pitching season and produced one of the Cowboys’ most productive seasons at the plate.
“It’s my last season, I didn’t want to sit out,” she said.
She kept going, and completed her senior year on the way to earning the title of Camp Verde Journal Female Athlete of the Year for Camp Verde High School.
Bast grew up with sports as a constant in her life. She participated in soccer and cheerleading as a kid, as well as her future high-school sports of basketball and softball.
“It was something my dad and I were able to bond on,” she said. “He was gone a lot because of his job so it was something we could bond on.”
Basketball and softball pulled Bast in since they’re opposite in nature. The “competitiveness” of basketball and its intensity in crunch-time moments attracted her to the hardwood, while the complexity and variety of softball “intrigued” her.
Softball became a puzzle for her to figure out. Bast never played high-level travel ball as a young player like most high school players of her caliber, instead waiting until her teenage years. She pitched sparingly in her little league days, but when she joined the Cowboys in high school it wasn’t her forte.
One game in the midst of her sophomore year, the Cowboys were up by such a margin that the coaching staff decided to experiment with other arms, in order to preserve their go-to pitchers. A teammate nominated Bast to take the circle, citing her limited experience as a child.
A strong first outing earned her further opportunities. She began taking reps as a pitcher in practice, but experimentation with pitching became a fixation. She practiced under-handing softballs to a net at home, pitching to her father and searching up YouTube clips of curveball grips.
One practice in particular during her sophomore season, the confidence in her abilities clicked. She struck out a high-powered senior hitter, and knew perhaps she had a future as a pitcher.
“I was like, ‘no way, I just did that,’” she said.
The mindset that developed that day propelled her for the rest of her high school athletics career, regardless of sport. The reality of both basketball and softball are that success rates as an individual are low. Bast hit .379 in softball and shot 37% in basketball as a senior. Both numbers are outstanding at her level. But both are just a 37% rate of success. As Bast notes, keeping your head up even when the grain goes against you is vital to any athlete’s success.
“I can’t change what hit they just got [off of me while pitching],” she said. “I can only control what hit they get next. You can’t change the past …. In basketball, you don’t have much time to think, ‘oh my gosh I just missed that shot.’ You gotta run back [on defense].”
Carving out a niche is easy in softball. Bast performed well as a pitcher, so she pitched. The coaching staff placed her in the circle based on ability.
Basketball is another beast. There’s one ball and 10 players on the court. Positions exist, of course, but each player has the same objective — put the ball in the hoop, and stop the other team from doing the same thing.
Recognizing your role is a vital part of becoming a positive on the hardwood. Without self awareness, players could take shots they shouldn’t or try to do too much. Bast knew her role on the Cowboys basketball squad, and excelled at it.
“On offense I wasn’t the greatest at dribbling,” she said. “I found a way to be important to the team … I found much more joy in blocking someone than I did in making a shot.”
That mentality is an asset to any team. Bast’s future in sports is still up in the air, but she’ll attend Yavapai College in the fall. She’s still kicking the tires on potentially playing softball during her time there. As for an academic future, she says she’s undecided on a major but would like to run a business relating to the medical field.
