John Raffel
Sports Scene
Emily Durham isn’t quite finished with competitive sports yet.
The former Montabella standout has signed on with the Lansing Community College softball program. She is currently attending classes at the school and playing in the college’s fall softball program.
Durham played four years at Montabella as catcher and shortstop. She received all-conference honors and batted .420 as a senior.
She enrolled at LCC with hopes of playing sports. After seeing a posting for softball tryouts, “I tried out and they asked me to sign a letter of intent,” she said. “I went to LCC to try out for the basketball team. I went to a couple of workouts for basketball. Then I tried out for softball.”
At Montabella, “softball was always my best sport,” Durham said. “I liked basketball a little better in high school. But now I like softball.”
Durham figures she would not be able to play both sports for LCC and is gladly focusing on softball.
“We’re practicing everyday,” she said. “We have a couple tournaments that we’re playing.”
Durham figures she’ll be playing mostly at catcher. She believes she’ll be able to step into the lineup in the spring and contribute significantly.
“It will probably take me awhile to get used to things,” she said. “The talent level is higher. If I work every day like I am now, I’ll eventually catch up.”
Durham is impressed with LCC’s program.
“We have a really good team with outstanding talent,” she said. “I always wanted to play college sports.”