Photo by: Mississippi State Athletics
Coming Full Circle
January 31, 2022 | Softball
STARKVILLE – The road to Mississippi State was a long and complicated path for Shea Moreno. Out of high school, the Sacramento, California, native signed with national powerhouse UCLA and enrolled in the summer semester.
She made friends on multiple teams, including All-American and former U.S. National Team gymnast Nia Dennis, but her stay in Los Angeles didn't last long. Moreno never played an inning for the Bruins. Instead, she headed five hours up the I-5 to San Mateo Community College for the first of two junior college seasons that would reshape her and push her toward Starkville.
"The level of competition was a lot different, but it was still fun. It was more carefree, not as serious, but fun," she said. "The hardest adjustment was realizing a lot of these girls had different mindsets than girls at a D1 school. At D1, it was a softball-first, business-type mindset; whereas in JuCo, it was more for fun."
That same laidback approach proved to be challenging at times though. There was the game that saw her team nearing a run-rule loss down 18-0 before her teammate homered.
"They are all running out to home plate and I'm telling them, 'No, get back in the dugout. This is not something we celebrate,' Moreno remembered. "It was hard for them because they are thinking we just scored our first run and I'm telling them, 'No, we're still down by 17.'"
It would have been easy to coast through the junior college circuit. The game came so much more easily to her at that level. Moreno played 23 games before the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered the season. She posted a .487 batting average and .868 slugging percentage and was among California's top 10 in hits, home runs, and total bases while striking out just once. It was a confidence boost for someone who said she questioned herself often while at UCLA.
"Instead of coasting through it, I set goals for batting average and on-base percentage, and I wanted to blow everyone else out of the water," she said. "Even though it wasn't challenging as being up at D1, I wanted to make sure I was still held up to a higher standard and let my numbers show that I belonged at the D1 level."
But 2020 proved to be a hard year for Moreno. On top of the transition down to junior college and the cancellation of the season, she dealt with a death in the family and thought her softball career was done.
"I remember I texted [MSU head] Coach [Samantha] Ricketts saying I don't care what I have to do," she said. "I have to leave, get away from home. I need to be somewhere else."
That's how she found herself boarding a flight to Seminole, Oklahoma, for the second leg of her junior college journey. While playing for Seminole State College, Moreno met her goals. She did blow everyone out of the water, and coaches around the country noticed.
She was named the NJCAA Player of the Year with an eye-popping .673 batting average, .709 on-base percentage and 1.280 slugging percentage while leading the nation in total bases and RBIs.
And the confidence kept growing as her teammates came to her for hitting advice. Though she wasn't officially named a team captain, she was the leader on the field and had the highest game IQ.
"I was always just preparing myself to get back to this level," she said. "From starting at D1, then going to JuCo, to trying to get back at D1, I always had that mindset that this is where I am right now, but this is where I need to prepare myself to be in the near future."
Moreno credits her time in junior college for giving her a different level of appreciation, not just for softball, but for everything and everyone that goes into making a Division I program successful.
For the last two years, her gear distribution has been four cotton t-shirts and one pair of socks. She and her teammates had to provide their own cleats and gloves. There were a handful of team bats, but most brought their own.
"You're not completely on your own, but you are definitely not as spoiled as you are on the D1 level," she said. "Before games, we wouldn't have a field crew. We were the field crew. After the game, we were the clean-up crew. It makes me more appreciative for the team managers and the people that don't have to be here, but enjoy being here. I always make sure to make an extra effort to thank them."
Her arrival in Starkville this fall was refreshing. Moreno had made it back to the top-tier. She's in the SEC now, and she feels like she belongs.
"I've never felt more at home at a school," she said. "[Junior college] was always hard because I was always looked at as 'Oh, she came from UCLA.' I feel regular now. I like that it's a family aspect. No one looks at me differently from anyone else."
In less than two weeks, the Bulldogs will meet UCLA in California on opening weekend. Moreno still has friends and former teammates that will occupy the opposite dugout. The symmetry of her story is impossible to ignore, but she's not thinking about the Bruins.
"It's just to prove to myself, not even to UCLA, but to prove to myself that I deserve to be in D1, and deserve to play on the field with these top teams," she said. "The coaches at JuCo and Mississippi State, they've helped me build myself back up, and help me believe that I am a good player, a good teammate. I'm ready to go, I have the countdown on my calendar.
"It was good for me. I learned a lot. I matured a lot," she added. "That's really what I needed most, was the maturing aspect. The difference between the last two years and this year is big. I was still a kid, and now I'm becoming a woman."
She made friends on multiple teams, including All-American and former U.S. National Team gymnast Nia Dennis, but her stay in Los Angeles didn't last long. Moreno never played an inning for the Bruins. Instead, she headed five hours up the I-5 to San Mateo Community College for the first of two junior college seasons that would reshape her and push her toward Starkville.
"The level of competition was a lot different, but it was still fun. It was more carefree, not as serious, but fun," she said. "The hardest adjustment was realizing a lot of these girls had different mindsets than girls at a D1 school. At D1, it was a softball-first, business-type mindset; whereas in JuCo, it was more for fun."
That same laidback approach proved to be challenging at times though. There was the game that saw her team nearing a run-rule loss down 18-0 before her teammate homered.
"They are all running out to home plate and I'm telling them, 'No, get back in the dugout. This is not something we celebrate,' Moreno remembered. "It was hard for them because they are thinking we just scored our first run and I'm telling them, 'No, we're still down by 17.'"
It would have been easy to coast through the junior college circuit. The game came so much more easily to her at that level. Moreno played 23 games before the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered the season. She posted a .487 batting average and .868 slugging percentage and was among California's top 10 in hits, home runs, and total bases while striking out just once. It was a confidence boost for someone who said she questioned herself often while at UCLA.
"Instead of coasting through it, I set goals for batting average and on-base percentage, and I wanted to blow everyone else out of the water," she said. "Even though it wasn't challenging as being up at D1, I wanted to make sure I was still held up to a higher standard and let my numbers show that I belonged at the D1 level."
But 2020 proved to be a hard year for Moreno. On top of the transition down to junior college and the cancellation of the season, she dealt with a death in the family and thought her softball career was done.
"I remember I texted [MSU head] Coach [Samantha] Ricketts saying I don't care what I have to do," she said. "I have to leave, get away from home. I need to be somewhere else."
That's how she found herself boarding a flight to Seminole, Oklahoma, for the second leg of her junior college journey. While playing for Seminole State College, Moreno met her goals. She did blow everyone out of the water, and coaches around the country noticed.
She was named the NJCAA Player of the Year with an eye-popping .673 batting average, .709 on-base percentage and 1.280 slugging percentage while leading the nation in total bases and RBIs.
And the confidence kept growing as her teammates came to her for hitting advice. Though she wasn't officially named a team captain, she was the leader on the field and had the highest game IQ.
"I was always just preparing myself to get back to this level," she said. "From starting at D1, then going to JuCo, to trying to get back at D1, I always had that mindset that this is where I am right now, but this is where I need to prepare myself to be in the near future."
Moreno credits her time in junior college for giving her a different level of appreciation, not just for softball, but for everything and everyone that goes into making a Division I program successful.
For the last two years, her gear distribution has been four cotton t-shirts and one pair of socks. She and her teammates had to provide their own cleats and gloves. There were a handful of team bats, but most brought their own.
"You're not completely on your own, but you are definitely not as spoiled as you are on the D1 level," she said. "Before games, we wouldn't have a field crew. We were the field crew. After the game, we were the clean-up crew. It makes me more appreciative for the team managers and the people that don't have to be here, but enjoy being here. I always make sure to make an extra effort to thank them."
Her arrival in Starkville this fall was refreshing. Moreno had made it back to the top-tier. She's in the SEC now, and she feels like she belongs.
"I've never felt more at home at a school," she said. "[Junior college] was always hard because I was always looked at as 'Oh, she came from UCLA.' I feel regular now. I like that it's a family aspect. No one looks at me differently from anyone else."
In less than two weeks, the Bulldogs will meet UCLA in California on opening weekend. Moreno still has friends and former teammates that will occupy the opposite dugout. The symmetry of her story is impossible to ignore, but she's not thinking about the Bruins.
"It's just to prove to myself, not even to UCLA, but to prove to myself that I deserve to be in D1, and deserve to play on the field with these top teams," she said. "The coaches at JuCo and Mississippi State, they've helped me build myself back up, and help me believe that I am a good player, a good teammate. I'm ready to go, I have the countdown on my calendar.
"It was good for me. I learned a lot. I matured a lot," she added. "That's really what I needed most, was the maturing aspect. The difference between the last two years and this year is big. I was still a kid, and now I'm becoming a woman."
Players Mentioned
INF
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