BIG RAPIDS - Amanda Jager was a hard-nosed competitor who expected the most out of herself every time she stepped to the plate during her softball career at Ferris State University.
The numbers do not lie in the evaluation of Jager as a college softball player. With a career batting average of .312 (tied for 10th all time in Ferris State history), Jager, a Kalamazoo native who prepped at Comstock High School, enjoyed a strong career playing for the Bulldogs on the diamond. Jager has used her experiences (and others) in the next phase of her softball career - as an assistant varsity coach at Big Rapids High School for head coach Jamie Bechaz.
"They needed some help rebuilding programs and getting some insight and to have someone to push them a little harder and someone who was recently a player coming from a higher level of softball to come in and teach them new things from what I've learned," Jager said. "I have been all over the place. I've been doing pitching workouts with the pitchers, catching workouts with the catchers and I've been working with outfield and the infield having them do specific drills and focusing a lot on fundamentals. Making sure they have good mechanics and good fundamentals."
Jager, an All-GLIAC and all-region player during her career, ranks third all time on the Ferris list of career hitters (.516), first all time in on-base percentage (.434), eighth in doubles (35), third in home runs (17) and on and on the list goes for one of the more accomplished offensive players in Bulldog softball history.
One of the benefits of having a Division II university in Big Rapids, the size of Ferris, is a resource that sometimes makes talented young coaches available to get their start. In many ways, it's a mutually beneficial relationship that also works for the younger kids at Big Rapids to have college student-athletes taking interest in helping them learn and grow.
Jager is enjoying the experience working with the Cardinals as a varsity assistant.
"They're a great group of girls. They're a good group that really wants to learn and get better," said Jager, who was encouraged by Bechaz and by former BRHS varsity head coach and current Ferris assistant softball coach Dawn Thompson. "It's fun teaching them and they are very hard-working kids."
The numbers do not lie in the evaluation of Jager as a college softball player. With a career batting average of .312 (tied for 10th all time in Ferris State history), Jager, a Kalamazoo native who prepped at Comstock High School, enjoyed a strong career playing for the Bulldogs on the diamond. Jager has used her experiences (and others) in the next phase of her softball career - as an assistant varsity coach at Big Rapids High School for head coach Jamie Bechaz.
"They needed some help rebuilding programs and getting some insight and to have someone to push them a little harder and someone who was recently a player coming from a higher level of softball to come in and teach them new things from what I've learned," Jager said. "I have been all over the place. I've been doing pitching workouts with the pitchers, catching workouts with the catchers and I've been working with outfield and the infield having them do specific drills and focusing a lot on fundamentals. Making sure they have good mechanics and good fundamentals."
Jager, an All-GLIAC and all-region player during her career, ranks third all time on the Ferris list of career hitters (.516), first all time in on-base percentage (.434), eighth in doubles (35), third in home runs (17) and on and on the list goes for one of the more accomplished offensive players in Bulldog softball history.
One of the benefits of having a Division II university in Big Rapids, the size of Ferris, is a resource that sometimes makes talented young coaches available to get their start. In many ways, it's a mutually beneficial relationship that also works for the younger kids at Big Rapids to have college student-athletes taking interest in helping them learn and grow.
Jager is enjoying the experience working with the Cardinals as a varsity assistant.
"They're a great group of girls. They're a good group that really wants to learn and get better," said Jager, who was encouraged by Bechaz and by former BRHS varsity head coach and current Ferris assistant softball coach Dawn Thompson. "It's fun teaching them and they are very hard-working kids."
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