Following her graduation from high school in the spring, Dylan Sweeney, the starting center fielder and team captain for the Mingus high school softball team, will be taking her talents to Nebraska and Wayne State College.
With her family, coaches, teammates and friends looking on Wednesday, March 4 at the Mingus Union High School gym, Sweeney signed her letter of intent to attend Wayne State and play on the Wildcats softball team.
“It’s really exciting to be able to sign and continue to play a sport I love,” Sweeney said. “Everyone that came, it just meant a lot — to see all of the support from everyone. Overall it was just a great day.”
It was a big day for not only Sweeney, but also her parents.
“She’s worked really hard,” her mother, Gretchen Groseta said. “She’s played softball seriously and competitively since she was about 11, travel since she was about 11 or 12. Then in the last couple of years she joined a Phoenix travel team. It’s been a long road — a lot of weekend tournaments. To just see her finally get to that point is pretty exciting. We’re proud of her.”
Wayne state is located in Northeast Nebraska, approximately two hours outside of Omaha. Additionally, Sweeney’s father, Paul Groseta, noted that Sweeney will be playing softball well outside of the Midwest, with road trips going as far south as Florida and as far north as the Canadian border.
While that is quite a trip from Northern Arizona, Sweeney’s family feels good about her choice of college.
“The program there is really like a family,” Gretchen said. “It’s a very safe community. I couldn’t be happier. She looked at places in Texas and California and I think this is an ideal place to feel comfortable about our kid going off to college — the coaches there really take care of the girls like a family. They really look after them.”
“I actually went with her on the visit. It’s a great little community and they really support the community,” Gretchen added. “The school has about 3,600 students. The community itself is about 5,600 and they just love that school.”
During basketball season, Sweeney’s coach, Paul Ventura, said that Sweeney has a 4.0 GPA. Wayne State has a good pre-med program, which Sweeney plans to study.
The school also suited her well as a softball player. Sweeney has excelled with the Marauders, posting a combined .342/.404/.545 slash line [batting average/on-base percentage/slugging percentage] with nine home runs and 40 stolen bases from her freshman through junior seasons. That kind of performance will play well for the Wildcats on the diamond.
“I went to Wayne State and when I arrived there it was just a really good family environment and atmosphere,” Sweeney said. “The conference they’re in is one of the most competitive conferences in D-2. So I felt that the school in general was just a good fit for me.”
Sweeney also expressed gratitude to her family for being there to help her along her journey as a softball player and young woman.
“I want to thank my parents for pushing me and continuing to allow me to strive for greater things. And just being there for me when I needed it the most.”
